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ECHOES 

IKOM   THE 

PULPIT  AND  PLATFORM 

OR 

LURING  TRUTHS  FOR  HEAD  AND  HEART 

IIJ.LSrRAlEl)   HY   UF'WAKUS   OF 

FIVE    HUNDRED    THRILLING    ANECDOTES   AND    INCIDENTS, 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCES.  TOUCHING  HOME  SCENES, 

AND   STORIES   OF   TENDER   PATHOS 

DRAWN    FROM 

€^e  ^rigl)t  anti  J^ljatip  M^t^  of  Eife 

AS   RELATED    BV        / 

DWIGHT    L.  MOODY 

DURING    HIS 

FORTY  YEARS'  EXPERIENCE  AS  AN  EVANGELIST 

INCLUDING  THE 

STORY   OF   MR.    MOODY'S    LIFE    AND    WORK 
By  REV.  CHARLES  F.  GOSS,  D.D. 

Pastor  0/  Mr.  Hlooiiy's  Chicago  Church  for  Five   I'ears 
INTRODUCTION 

By  REV.  LYMAN  ABBOTT,  D.  D. 


^npcrblp  3fHu6tratrt 


WITH    STEEL-PLATE   AND  OTHER    PORTRAITS,   AND   MANY   FINE   ENG,RAVINGS   FROM 
ORIGINAL   DESIGNS   BY   EMINENT   ARTISTS 


SOLD  ONLY  BY  SUBSCRIPTION 


^^^^>(  OF  mm 

JAN  29    1981 
^fOLOGICALSt^ 


A.  D.  WORTHINGTON    &    CO.,  PUBLISHERS 
HARTFORD.  CONN. 


[ALL   RIGHTS   RESERVED] 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1900, 

Ev    A.    D.   WORTHINGTON    &    COM^AN^■, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  U.  C. 


THIS  volume  has  been  in  course  of  preparation  for  several  years. 
and  nearly  every  line  of  it  was  in  type  when  ^Ir.  Moody  died. 
His  death  neither  hastened  nor  delayed  its  publication.  All  of 
the  pictorial  illustrations  were  in  the  artists'  hands  and  were  nearly 
completed;  Dr.  Abbott's  Introduction  was  in  type:  the  story  of  Mr. 
Moody's  life,  by  Dr.  Goss,  was  well  along;  and  the  steel-plate  portrait 
of  the  great  evangelist  was  finished,  when  he  passed  away.  These 
facts  are  mentioned  as  evidence  that  this  volume  has  not  been  hastily 
brought  out  simply  to  meet  a  demand  caused  by  Mr.  Moody's  death. 
All  that  pertains  to  it  had  received  the  most  painstaking  care  that 
ample  time  could  give,  long  before  his  public  career  closed. 

It  presents  the  story  of  Mr.  Moody's  life  and  work  not  only  through 
the  pen  of  one  who  was  intimately  associated  with  him  for  years  — 
Rev.  Dr.  Goss.  whose  name  was  suggested  to  the  Publishers  by  Mr. 
Moody's  son  —  Mr.  William  R.  Moody  —  to  whom  they  had  been 
referred  by  Mr.  bloody  himself.  —  but  also  through  the  medium  of 
Mr.  Moody's  recorded  speech,  thus  making  it  largely  autobiographical. 
His  best  thoughts,  jiis  most  touching  stories,  his  most  thrilling  anec- 
dotes and  incidents,  together  with  the  many  personal  experiences  and 
reminiscences  he  so  often  and  eflfectively  told  on  the  platform,  are  here 
preserved  in  permanent  form. 

In  1896-7  Mr.  Moody  conducted  a  series  of  revival  meetings  in 
New  England,  the  last  great  series  which  he  ever  conducted  in  the 
East.  A  month  in  Providence,  another  in  Low-ell,  and  two  months 
in  Boston,  were  among  the  notable  meetings  of  that  time.  The 
preparation  of  this  book  may  be  said  to  date  from  that  period.  The 
Publishers  employed  an  expert  stenographer  to  report  Mr.  Moody's 
sermons  zrrbatim  ct  literatim.  The  Rev.  W.  D.  Bridge  was  chosen  for 
this  important  work.  Of  his  skill.  Bishop  John  H.  Vincent  said:  "  I 
take  great  pleasure  in  commending  my  old  and  honored  friend,  the 
Rev.  W  D.  Bridge,  my  stenographic  secretary  for  more  than  nine 
years.  His  college  training  and  long  experience  have  made  him  a 
thorough  expert  in  evervthing  that  pertains  to  shorthand  writing,  re- 

(3) 


.  I'KKFACK. 

porting,  etc."  It  is  believed  •hat  Professor  Bridge's  reports  ol'  Mr. 
Moody's  sermons  are  tlie  most  accurate  tliat  liavc  been  made.  They 
form  tlie  basis  of  this  volume.  The  aim  has  been  to  present,  in  con- 
nected form,  tile  stories,  illustrations,  and  personal  exi)eriences  tliat  Mr. 
Moody  so  effectively  used,  together  with  their  application.  When- 
ever he  told  a  story,  or  related  a  personal  experience,  it  was  invariably 
to  illustrate  a  great  and  living  trutli.  and  in  this  volume  these  truths 
stand  out  as  beacon  lights.  Although  Mr.  Moody  had  an  almost  in- 
exhaustible fund  of  stories  and  apt  illustrations,  he  drew  very  largely 
from  his  own  experience.  He  never  repeated  them  in  precisely  the 
same  way.  nor  in  the  same  words,  nor  did  he  always  use  them  under 
the  same  head.  Some  of  those  told  in  his  earlier  years  were  narrated 
in  greater  detail;  some  were  better  told  on  one  occasion  than  on 
another.  Whenever  a  better  version  of  an  incident  or  personal 
experience  could  be  found,  than  those  specially  reported  for  this 
volume,  it  has  been  used.  But  his  earlier  addresses,  while  perhaps 
more  vigorous,  lacked  the  smoothness  —  or  shall  we  say  polish?  —  of 
his  later  ones,  because  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life  he  broadened 
in  many  ways.  He  read  and  studied  in  certain  lines  to  great  ad- 
vantage, and  his  acquaintance  with  many  distinguished  men  and 
women  in  Europe  and  .America  freed  him.  to  some  extent,  from  the 
limitations  of  his  earlier  years. 

Mr.  Moody  was  desirous  that  printed  copies  of  his  words  should 
be  widely  circulated.  He  often  acknowledged  from  the  platform  his 
great  obligations  to  the  press.  In  I'.oston.  in  1897,  looking  down  upon 
the  reporters'  table,  he  said:  "  I  want  to  speak  a  word  for  the  papers. 
They  are  a  great  help  to  us.  Buy  papers.  Buy  lots  of  them.  They 
are  for  sale.  Religious  people  grumble  about  the  newspapers  and  say 
they  don't  give  enough  space  to  sermons.  When  a  good  sermon  is 
printed,  buy  that  pa])er.  Buy  them  by  the  hundred,  and  scatter  them 
broadcast."'  And  again:  "  And  I  say  once  more  that  we  want  to  thank 
God  for  the  reports  which  the  press  are  sending  out.  Let  us  ask 
God  to  bless  the  reports  more  and  more."  He  then  read  a  letter  sent 
by  "  a  laboring  man."  exjircssing  his  thanks  for  the  reports  of  the 
meetings  in  one  of  the  papers.  "  which",  he  said,  "  I  read  every  day 
on  the  way  to  and  from  my  work."  At  that  time  the  papers  did  not 
report  Mr.  Moody's  sermons  in  full.  Some  gave  the  substance  of  only 
a  portion  of  them,  others  made  brief  mention,  some  none  at  all.  If 
the  publication  of  fragments  of  his  sermons  in  the  daily  press  met  with 
Mr.  Moody's  emphatic  approval  —  and  we  have  his  testimony  that  it 
did  —  it  is  believed  that  the  accurate  and  permanent  form  in  wdiich 
his  latest  words  are  here  presented  would  not  have  been  distasteful  to 
him.  The  only  full  reports  made  during  his  last  two  months  in 
Boston,  in  1897.  as  well  as  those  made  in  other  cities,  were  made  for 
this  volume.  When  Mr.  Moody  knew  that  his  words  were  being 
taken  down  vcrhalint,  it  seemed  to  stimul.ite  him  to  still  greater  ex- 
ertions. He  confesses  to  this  in  a  remarkable  incident  he  relates  on 
page  119.  when  "everything  went  in,  blunders  and  all." 

Mr.  Moody  was  a  rapid  speaker,  and  when  intensely  in  earnest,  or 
carried  away  by  the  excitement  of  the  moment,  he  sometimes  un- 
consciously made  slips  of  the  tongue,  which  otherwise  might  not  have 
occurred.  In  these  "  Echoes"  obvious  mistakes  have  been  corrected; 
but  with  slight  editing  the  great  and  living  truths  he  so  successfully 
advocated  and  defended  for  forty  years  before  millions  of  eager 
listeners,  are  given  in  this  volume  substantially  as  he  proclaimed  them 
from  the  platform. 

THE   I'UBLISHl-RS. 


Jf  rom  photographs,  an6  Original  Bcsigns  ^rawn  crprcsslvr  for  this  work  bis  Charles 
CopcIan6,  E^mun^  lb.  Garrett,  an^  other  lEmincnt  Hrtists. 

1.  PORTRAIT   OF    DWIGHT   L.  MOODY       .         .     Fr07iti5piece 

Engraver!  expressly  for  this  work  from  a  photograph  made  by  Pierre  Petit, 
Paris,  in  1882,  when  Mr.  Moody  was  45  years  old.  The  negative  of  this 
photograph  was  destroyed  at  Mr.  Moody's  request.  Engraved  in  pure  line 
and  stipple  by  Mr.  John  J.  Cade,  New  York. 

2.  Ornamental  Heading  to  Preface 3 

3.  Ornamental  HEAniNG  to  List  of  Illustrations    ...  5 

4.  Orna.mental  Heading  to  Contents 7 

5.  Orna.mental  Heading  to  Rev,  Lyman  Abbott's  Introduction  25 

6.  Exgraved  Autograph  of  Rev.  Lyman  Abbott       ...  32 

7.  Ornamental  Headi.ng  to  Rev.  Charles  F.  Goss's  "  Story 

of  Mr.  Moody's  Life  and  Work" 33 

8.  Where  D.  L.  Moody  was  Born.       The  Moody  Homestead 

AT  Northfield,  Mass 34 

9.  D.  L.  Moody   as  he  Appeared   at  the   Time   he   Removed 

FROM  the  Family  Farm  to  Boston        ...       37 

10.  D.  L.  Moody  at  the  A(;e  of  26 45 

11.  Ira  D.  Sankey,  Mr.  Moody's  Yoke-Fellow.  Age  35       •         -54 

12.  D.  L.  Moody's   House  at   Northfield,    in    Winter,    Look- 

IN(;  East 71 

13.  Dining  Room,  D.  L.  Moody's  House  at  Northfield     .         .       73 

14.  The  Northfield  Auditorium.     It  has  a  Seating  Capacit\- of 

three  thousand 77 

15.  D.  L.  Moody's  House  at  Nurtiuteld,  Lookinc;  South         .       79 

16.  D.  L.  Moody's  Study 91 

17.  Engraved  Autograth  of  Rev.  Charles  F.  Goss  .         .         .112 

18.  Ornamental  Heading  to   Chai-ter    I,  with    Engraved   Au- 

tograph of  D.  L.  Moody 113 

19.  Portrait  of  D.  L.  Moody  at  the  Age  of  62         .  .113 

(5) 


6  MST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

2...  A  FATHER  RECOGNIZING  HIS  LONG-LOST  SON. 
DEATH  OF  A  PRODIGAL  IN  A  LONDON  GAR- 
RET. (Full  Page.)  From  an  0ru;inal  Design  by 
Charles  Coieland   .......     Facing     132 

"  No,  father,  I  am  too  far  gone,  I  am  dying;  but  I  can  die  happy  in  this  gar- 
ret, now  that  I  know  you  have  forgiven  iiie."  In  a  httle  while  he  breathed 
his  last,  and  out  of  that  dark  garret,  from  a  wretched  bed  of  straw,  his  soul 
rose  up  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

21.  AN  INCIDENT   IN  MR.    MOODY'S    EARLY    CAREER. 

PREACHING  TO  A  STREET  CROWD.  (Full  Page.) 
Fro.m  an  Original  Design  by  Charles  Copeland      Facing      1S4 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  we  can  go  into  the  street  and  preach  the  Gospel  there." 
I  tried  every  way  I  could  to  get  the  church  people  to  go  into  the  street  with 
me,  but  1  couldn't ;  then  I  said  I  would  try  to  get  the  sinners.  When  the  hour 
came  I  stood  upon  a  drygoods  box  and  I  went  at  it.  There  were  a  lot  of 
young  men  sneaking  around  the  outside. 

22.  A  DRUNKARD  SURPRISED  IN  A  BAR-ROOM.     THE 

LITTLE     CARD    HEADED     -MY    DEAR    FRIEND." 

(Full  Page.)        From    an    Original    Design    by    Charles 

Coi'el.xm)  Facing      232 

He  was  a  miserable  drunkard  ,  his  friends  had  left  him  and  he  was  sinking 
rapidly  mto  a  drunkard's  grave.  When  he  entered  the  saloon  a  few  hours 
afterwards,  the  little  card  headed  "My  Dear  Friend"  was  handed  to  him. 
"  Why,"  he  said,  sarcastically,  "  this  is  singular,  I've  got  a  friend."  He  read 
on  :  "  If  you  will  come  up  to  the  hotel  to-night  at  7  o'clock  I  should  like  to  see 
you." 

23.  REMARKABLE    SCENE    IN   A   DRUNKARD'S    HOME. 

(Full  Page.)  From  an  Original  Design  by  Edmund  H. 
Gakkeii Facing     238 

"  Mary,  have  we  a  Bible  in  the  house  ?  "  "  Oh,  John,"  Mary  said,  "  I  hope 
you  are  not  going  to  take  my  mother's  Bible  from  me.  Oh,  John,  don't  pawn 
it!"  "No,"  said  John,  "I  don't  want  to  pawn  it."  And  she  brought  the 
Bible.  The  children  can't  understand  it ;  they  had  been  used  to  hearing  him 
curse  and  swear. 

24.  MR.  MOODY  AND  SOME  FRIENDS  PREACHING  AND 

SINGING  HYMNS  IN  HAUNTS  OF  VICE.  (Full 
Page.)      From  an  Original  Design  by  Charles  Copeland 

.         .         .     Facing     246 

I  don't  know  any  work  so  blessed  as  going  into  saloons  and  preaching  the 
Gospel  there.  If  drunkards  will  not  come  to  church,  go  down  where  they  are, 
in  the  name  of  our  God,  and  you  will  reach  them.  We  took  sixteen  out  of  a 
saloon  in  that  way  one  night,  and  nine  of  them  went  into  the  mquiry-room.  If 
}-ou  say,  "  Oh,  they  will  put  me  out,"  I  say,  "  No,  I  have  never  been  turned  out 
of  a  saloon  in  my  life." 

25.  MR  MOODY  HOLDING  A  MEETING  IN  A  COUNTRY 

SCHOOLHOUSE.  A  SCENE  IN  HIS  EARLY  CA- 
REER. (Full  Page.)  From  an  Original  Design  by 
Charles  Copeland Facing      280 

If  I  didn't  get  into  a  church,  I  would  get  up  a  meeting  in  some  school- 
house.  The  first  man  who  came  to  the  meeting  would  bring,  perhaps,  an  old 
dingy  lantern.  He  would  set  the  lantern  up  on  the  desk.  Perhaps  the  next 
one  who  came  in  would  be  a  woman,  and  she  would  bring  out  from  under  her 
shawl  an  old  sperm-oil  lamp.  The  next  man  would  bring  out  of  his  pocket  a 
tallow-dip,  and  he  would  light  his  match  and  set  that  up  on  the  desk.  That  is 
the  way  we  would  light  up  the  room. 


LIST    OP'    ILLUSTRATIONS.  7 

26.  AN    INCIDENT    OF    THE    CIVIL    WAR.     A    LITTLE 

GIRL  PLEADING  WITH  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND 
HIS  CABINET  TO  SPARE  HER  BROTHER'S  LIFE. 
(Full  Page.)  Fro.m  an  Okkhnai.  Design  bv  Edmund  H. 
G.\KKETT Faci7ig      306 

When  she  entered  the  room  the  President  was  surrounded  by  his  counsel- 
ors, and  when  he  saw  the  little  country  girl  he  asked  her  what  she  wanted. 
She  told  her  sad,  simple  story  —  how  her  brother,  whom  her  mother  and  father 
loved  so  dearly,  had  been  sentenced  to  be  shot;  how  they  were  mourning  for 
him,  and  if  he  was  to  die  in  that  way  it  would  break  their  hearts. 

27.  DEATH  OF  LITTLE  ADELAIDE.     MR.  MOODY  VISIT- 

ING A  DRUNKARD'S  HOME.  (Full  Page.)  From  an 
Original  Desig.n  bv  Ed.mund  H.  Garreit  .         .     Facing     312 

I  took  my  little  girl,  four  years  old,  and  started  for  the  home  of  the  drowned 
child.  Little  Adelaide  used  to  go  to  the  Chicago  river  and  gather  floating 
wood  for  the  fire.  That  day  she  had  gone  as  usual  ;  she  saw  a  piece  of  wood, 
a  larger  stick  than  the  rest,  a  little  way  from  the  bank,  and  in  stretching  out 
her  hand  to  reach  it  she  slipped  and  fell  mto  the  water  and  was  drowned. 
There  were  four  children  in  the  room,  and  the  husband  sat  ni  the  corner  — 
drunk. 

28.  IN    PERIL   UPON   THE  SEA.       A   THRILLING   INCI- 

DENT IN  MR.  MOODY'S  LIFE.      (Full  Page.)      From 

AN  Original  Design  by  Charles  Copeland  .     Facing     340 

I  went  to  my  berth  and  lay  down.  I  said,  "  I  may  be  in  Heaven  when  I 
awake.  But  I  may  reach  Northfield."  About  2.15  that  morning  my  son  came 
to  my  stateroom  and  awakened  me,  telling  me  to  come  on  deck.  There  he 
pointed  out  in  the  dim  distance  a  tiny  light  that  we  could  occasionally  catch  a 
glimpse  of  as  it  shone  over  the  waves  as  our  ship  rolled  heavily  from  side  to 
side.     "  It  is  our  star  of  Bethlehem,"  I  said,  "  and  our  prayers  are  answered." 

29.  MR.  MOODY    TELLING    THE    SOLDIER'S    WIDOW'S 

STORY  IN  CAMP.  (Pull  Page.)  From  an  Original 
Design  by  Charles  Copeland        ....     Facing      374 

The  father  and  husband  was  gone,  but  the  widow  and  children  wanted  to 
pray  for  some  one.  So  I  went  to  the  Bible  house  and  bought  two  Bibles  and 
took  them  with  me  into-the  army,  and  when  in  front  of  Richmond  I  told  the 
widow's  story.  I  held  up  one  of  the  Bibles  and  said,  "  If  there  is  a  soldier 
here  who  wants  to  come  forward  and  take  this  Bible,  and  have  the  prayers  of 
that  widow  and  those  children  in  Chicago,  will  he  come  forward." 

30.  "HERRINGS,  HERRINGS.  GOOD  FRESH  HERRINGS, 

FOR  NOTHING!"  (Full  Page.)  From  an  Original 
Design  by  Edmund  H.  Garrett    ....     Facing     402 

"  Well,"  said  the  man,  "  if  you  will  cry,  herrings  for  nothing  !  Good  fresh 
herrings  for  nothing!  1  will  pay  you  for  them."  He  accepted  and  went  on 
crying  :  "  Herrings  for  nothing  !  Good  fresh  herrings  for  nothing  !  "  But  he 
couldn't  get  rid  of  a  herring.  He  walked  the  whole  length  of  the  street  crying 
"Herrings  for  nothing!"  But  he  finally  stopped  and  said:  "I  didn't  know 
there  were  so  many  fools  in  the  world."     The  secret  was,  nobody  believed  him. 

31.  DYING  ON  THE  BATTLEFIELD.     THE  PARTING  OF 

TWO  BROTHERS.  (Full  Page)  From  an  Origin.vl 
Design  by  Charles  Copeland        ....     Facing     446 

At  last  a  bullet  passed  through  his  brother's  body.  Putting  a  knapsack 
under  his  head  he  made  him  as  comfortable  as  he  could,  and  started  on.  As 
he  was  turning  away  he  heard  his  wounded  brother  say  ■.  "  This  is  glorious!  " 
"  What  is  glorious?  "  'Oh,  I  see  Christ  in  Heaven  !  "  Lying  in  a  pool  of  his 
own  life  blood,  he  looked  up  and  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  glory  beyond. 


8  LIST    OF     II.I.rSTRATIOXS. 

32.  MR.  MOODY  LEAVING  HOME  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME. 

(Full  Page)  From  an  Original  Design  by  Edmund  H. 
Gakkeit Facing     492 

But  one  cold  day  in  November,— I  have  never  liked  November  since,— a 
day  of  leaden  skies  and  frozen  ground,  my  brother  came  home,  and  said  he  had 
lound  a  good  place  for  me,  and  I  must  go  ilown  and  spend  the  winter  in  (ireen- 
field.  1  said  I  wouldn't  go.  Hut  as  my  mother  and  1  sat  by  the  fire,  she  said  : 
"  Dwight,  1  think  you  will  have  to  go.  1  don't  think  1  shall  he  able  to  keep  the 
fiimily  together  this  winter."  It  was  a  dark  night  for  me.  1  didn't  sleep 
much  that  night.  I  cried  a  great  deal.  The  ne.\t  morning  after  breakfast  I 
took  my  little  bundle  and  we  started.  I  was  about  ten  years  old.  When  we 
got  a  mile  away  from  the  house  we  both  sat  down  and  cried. 

33.  "ARE  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  IN?"     (Full  Page.)     From 

AN  Original  Design  by  Edmund  H.  Garrett     .      Fcxci)ig    528 

Her  husband  was  sitting  by  her  side,  as  she  lay  dying,  and  he  was  watch- 
ing the  flickering  life  go  out,  when  all  at  once  she  opened  her  eyes,  and  looked 
around,  and  said  :  "  W'hy  !  it  is  dark."  "  Yes,  dear."  "Is  it  night?"  "Ves, 
dear,  it  is  night."  "Are  all  lite  children  in?"'  That  dear  old  mother  was 
living  life  over  again.  The  youngest  child  had  been  in  his  grave  twenty  years; 
but  the  old  father  and  husband  said,  "  \'cs,  wife,  they  are  all  in."  Then  she 
fell  asleep  in  Christ. 

34.  "JOHN  THOMPSON.  YOUR    FATHER  WANTS  YOU  ' 

A  FATHER  SEARCHING  THE  HOSPITALS  FOR 
HIS  SON.  (Full  Page.)  From  an  Original  Design 
r.Y  Edmund  H.  Garrett Facing     558 

Going  down  through  the  hospital  ward  he  would  cry  out :  "John  Thomp- 
son, your  father  wants  you."  The  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  would  lift  their 
heads,  and,  I  suppose,  said  to  themselves,  "  1  wish  that  was  my  father  calling 
to  me."  He  passed  from  one  hospital  to  another  and  Ins  voice  would  ring 
through  the  wards,  "John  Thompson,  your  father  wants  you."  And  by  and 
by  a  wounded  soldier  lilted  his  head  and  said  ;     "  Here  1  am,  father!  " 

35.  THE    LIGHTHOUSE    KEEPER    DISCOVERING     THE 

DEAD  BODY  OF  HIS  ONLY  SON.     (Full  Page.)     From 

AN  Original  Design  hy  Ed.mund  H.  Garrett     .     Facing      602 

His  fears  were  well  founded,  for  there  had  been  a  terrible  wreck.  He 
walked  along  the  beach,  hoping  to  save  some  one  who  might  still  be  alive.  The 
first  body  that  came  floating  toward  the  shore  was  the  body  of  his  own  son  ! 
He  had  been  watching  for  that  boy  for  many  days,  and  he  had  been  gone  for 
three  years.  He  had  perished  in  sight  of  home,  because  his  father  had  let  his 
light  go  out ! 

36.  Ornameni  al  Taii.-Pik(  e,  ''Good  Nkmit"        ....     640 


LIFE  OF   DWIGHT  L.   MOODY, 
By  Rev.  Charles  F.  Goss,  D.D., 

Pastor  of  Jlfr.  Moody's  Chicago  Church  for  Five  Years. 

CHAPTER    I. 

Dwight  L.  Moody's  Birthplace  —  Death  of  His  Father  —  The 
Widowed  Mother  and  a  Heavily  Mortgaged  Farm  —  The  Little 
Red  Schoolhouse  —  An  Uncontrollable  Love  of  Mischief  —  In- 
cidents in  His  School  Days  —  How  His  Teacher  Conquered 
Him  —  A  Wanderer  at  Seventeen  —  His  Advent  into  Real  Life  in 
the  City  of  Boston  — How  He  was  Converted  —  Decides  to  go  to 
Chicago  —  Finds  Work  at  Last  —  Running  Down  Country 
Merchants  on  the  Streets  —  Becomes  Identified  With  a  Church  — 
Rebuked  for  His  Rough  and  Ready  Speeches  —  Starting  a  Mission 
School  on  His  own  Responsibility  —  An  Outfit  of  Ragamuffins 
and  Street  Urchins  —  His  Sunday-school  Grows  to  i,ooo  Pupils  — 
Loses  his  Interest  in  Business  —  "I  am  working  for  Jesus 
Christ"  —  No  Money,  but  Plenty  of  Friends 2>i 

CHAPTER    H. 

Opening  of  the  Civil  War  —  Mr.  Moody  Enters  into  New  Experi- 
ences—  An  Important  Epoch  of  His  Life  —  His  Work  as  Chap- 
lain in  the  Union  Army  —  Its  EfTect  on  His  After  Life  —  Organiz- 
ing a  Church  of  His  Own  —  Raising  $20,coo  to  Build  His  First 
Church  —  His  Helpers  and  Leaders  —  Sleeping  on  Benches  or  on 
the  Floor  —  His  Great  Capacity  for  Work  —  "  Getting  the  Hang  " 
of  Meetings  —  His  Inexhaustible  Fund  of  Anecdote  and  Story  — 
Captivating  Eastern  Audiences  —  Some  of  His  Amusing  Oral 
Blunders  —  His  Marriage  and  Home  Life  —  Scraping  the  Flour 
Barrel  at  the  Bottom  —  Getting  Hold  of  the  Bible  —  Discovers 
the  Value  of  Music  —  Meeting  Mr.  Sankey  for  the  First  Time  — 
The  Partnership  that  Followed  —  Plans  to  go  to  England  on  an 
Empty   Pocketbook  —  The    Shadow   of   Coming   Events.    .     .     44 

(9) 


lO 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    III. 


iMr.  Moody  and  Mr.  Sankcy  Sail  for  England  —  Their  Arrival  in  Liver- 
pool —  The  Sorrowful  Ne.vvs  that  Greeted  Them  —  A  Discouraging 
Outlook  —  "I  Will  be  There  to-night  "  —  The  First  of  the  Re- 
markable Meetings  in  Great  Britain  —  An  Audience  of  Eight  Per- 
sons —  How  Interest  in  the  Meetings  Grew  —  Disagreeable  Critics 
and  Ministerial  Sharpshooters  —  Taking  Scotland  By  Storm  —  Mr. 
Sankey's  "  Kist  fu'  o'  Whustles  "  —  The  Excitement  Spreads 
Among  All  Classes  —  Remarkable  Scenes  —  Sweeping  through 
Scotland  and  Ireland  —  The  Evangelists  Arrive  in  London  —  Mr. 
Moody  Questioned  by  a  Conference  of  Ministers  —  The  Wit. 
Shrewdness,  and  Candor  of  His  Replies  —  The  Most  Wonderful 
Meetings  Ever  Held  in  London  —  Personal  Experiences  —  Dining 
With  Mr.  Gladstone  —  Premonition  of  Sudden  Death  —  Followed 
by  an  Assassin  —  Arrest  of  the  Would-be  Murderer  —  Using  up 
the  "Best   Minister  in   Scotland"  —  Farewell   to   London.       .     57 


CHAPTER    IV. 


Return  of  the  Famous  Evangelists  to  America  —  Great  Preparation 
for  Their  Tlome-Coming — Erection  of  Buildings  for  Immense 
Audiences  —  The  Campaign  in  Eastern  Cities  —  Sweeping 
Through  the  South  —  A  Work  That  Never  Ceased  for  Twenty- 
eight  Years  —  First  Steps  Towards  Organizing  Educational  In- 
stitutions at  Northfield  —  Great  Results  From    Small  Beginnings 

—  The  Northficld  Seminary  for  Gi-rls  —  The  Boys'  School  at 
Mount  Hcrmon  —  Mr.  Moody  Grapples  with  Intricate  Problems 

—  The  Summer  School  at  Northficld  — Visited  by  the  Most 
Famous  Men  of  the  Times  —  Marvelous  Vacation  Work  —  Cher- 
ished Life  Plans  —  "I'm  Trying  to  Reproduce  Myself"  —  Mr. 
Moody's  Fervor,  Energy,  and  Faith  —  "  I'm  Awfully  Concerned 
About  this  Matter"  —  A  Man  of  Action,  as  well  as  Words  — 
How  He  Raised  the  Money  to  Found  and  Support  His  In- 
stitutions  69 


CHAPTER    V. 


Mr.  Moody's  W^ondcrful  Capacity  to  Stand  Hard  and  Continuous 
Labor  —  Always  "Ready  for  Business" — His  Disregard  of 
Ordinary  Laws  of  Health  —  "  Have  You  Got  .'\nything  to  Eat?  " — 
His  Miraculous  Power  to  Stand  Fatigue  —  His  Intellectual  and 
Moral  Endowments  —  Looking  into  the  Faces  of  More  than  One 


CONTENTS.  J  I 

Hundred  Million  People  —  His  Wonderfully  Retentive  Mem- 
ory—  A  Life  of  Incessant  Activities — How  He  Treated  Men  he 
Personally  Disliked — Dropping  Men  as  if  They  Were  "Hot 
Coals"  —  His  Devotion  to  His  Friends  —  Standing  by  Henry 
Drummond  —  How  Drummond's  Death  AfTected  Mr.  Moody  — 
His  Great  Will  Power  —  His  Humility  and  Modesty  —  Refusing 
an  Offer  of  $25,000  for  His  Autobiography  —  Offered  $10,000  by 
a  Newspaper  for  a  Two-Hours  Interview  —  The  Power  of  His 
Eye — Did  He  Possess  the  Gift  of  Hypnotism? 83 


CHAPTER   \I. 


Mr.  ^loody's  Theology  —  His  Power  as  a  Preacher  —  What  he  Re- 
garded the  Most  Fascinating  Doctrine  in  the  Bible  —  His  Belief 
that  Things  Were  '"  Going  to  the  Bad  "  ^  Waiting  for  The  Final 
Crash  "  —  His  Fine  Sense  of  Humor  —  His  Unshaken  Belief  in 
the  Bible —  His  Broad  Sympathies  —  His  Oratory  and  Pulpit 
Power  ■ —  Born  With  a  Silver  Style  in  His  Mouth  — Characteristics 
of  His  Platform  Addresses  —  His  Limited  Vocabulary  —  His 
Source  of  Illustrations  —  Drawn  from  Real  Life  —  "Corner 
Groceries  "  in  Noah's  Time  —  How  he  Secured  the  Sympathy  and 
Attention  of  an  Audience  —  His  Intense  Energy  on  the  Plat- 
form—  Conditions  that  Aroused  His  Highest  Powers  —  His  Ideal 
of  Music,  and  the  Use  he  Made  of  it  —  Electrical  Effect  of  Some  of 
His  Sermons  —  His  Last  Sermon,  and  His  Last  Audience.    .     9,3 


CHAPTER    VH. 


Mr.  Moody's  Loyalty  to  the  Regular  Institutions  of  the  Christian 
Church  —  What  Might  Have  Happened  if  he  had  Unfurled  His 
Banner  —  The  Countless  Multitudes  that  Would  Have  Flocked  to 
Him  —  His  Ability  to  Organize  and  Bring  Order  out  of  Chaos  — 
How  he  Supported  the  Regular  Work  of  the  Churches  —  One  of 
Four  Men  "  Sent  Forth  by  God  "  —  His  Last  Meetings  in  Kansas 
City — ^  Great  Preparations  and  Enormous  Crowds  —  His  Sudden 
Illness — -"Oh.  I  am  Much  Better"  —  Forced  to  Remain  Away 
From  a  Meeting  for  the  First  Time  in  Forty  Years  —  Alarming 
Symptoms  —  He  is  Sent  Home  in  a  Private  Car  to  Northfield  — 
Watching  at  His  Bedside  —  Helpless,  but  Cheerful  and  Hopeful  — 
"What  is  Going  on  Here?"  —  Nearing  the  End  —  Close  of  an 
Illustrious  Life  —  Mr.  Moody's  Last  Words  —  His  Funeral —  His 
Grave  on  Round  Top 105 


^'.•■I»c 


h 


y 


An 


CHAPTER    I. 

SIMPLY   BELIEVING,   SIMPLY   RECEIVING. 

Incident  in  Manchester,  England.  — "  Oh,  I  See  It  Now "  — 
"  I  Understand  You  Have  Been  SteaUng "  —  Calling  Things 
by  Their  Right  Names  —  Two  Men  Who  Saw  What  they 
were  Looking  For  —  Story  of  a  Remarkable  Conversion  — 
Forging  His  Own  Chains  —  On  the  Deck  of  a  Sinking  Ship  — 
"Jump  Into  the  Lifeboat!"  —  The  Man  with  Handbills  —  The 
Story  of  Little  Nellie  —  "  Help  !  Help  !"  — A  Wicked  Yorkshire 
Miner  —  "Don't  Cry,  Lass;  Don't  Cry"  —  The  Silver  Key  and 
Tress  of  Auburn  Hair  —  A  Bed  of  Straw  —  "  No  One  Cares  for 
Mc  "  —  From  a  Dark  Garret  to  the  Kingdom  of  God.     .     .     .     i  r^ 


CHAPTER    H. 


THE    PRODIGAL    SON. 

Noble  Character  —  Seven  Children,  and  No  Two  Alike  —  A  Jolly 
Fellow  —  A  Father  Who  was  "  a  Little  Soft  "  —  Trying  to  Borrow 
a  Dollar  —  A  Scheme  of  the  Devil  —  Saloon-keepers  and  Free 
Lunches  —  The  Gnawings  of  Hunger  —  "  Use  or  Lose  "  —  A  Jew 
Caring  for  Swine  —  Sowing  Tares  and  Reaping  Shame  —  The 
Hardest  of  Battles  —  "  There  Goes  a  Tramp  "  —  Watching  for 
His  Son  —  Love  Makes  the  Eyesight  Keen  —  The  Forgotten 
Speech  —  A  Story  of  Mr.  Moody's  Early  Life  —  A  Mother's  Grief 
for  the  Wanderer  —  The  Little  Circle  By  the  Fireside  —  Tears 
and  Silence  —  The  Roar  of  the  Storm  —  The  Wanderer's  Re- 
turn—  What  if  there  Were  Two  Graves  There?  —  The  Face  of 
a  Stranger  —  His  Tears  of   Penitence    Betray    Him  —  Welcomed 

and  Forgiven .     .     136 

(12) 


CONTENTS.  12 

CHAPTER    III. 

THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

A  Photograph  of  the  Heart  —  "I  Will  Take  Fourteen  Dozen"  — 
Breaking  the  Plate  and  Abusing  the  Artist  —  "  Ticketed  "  through 
to  Heaven  —  "  My  Brother  is  an  Archdeacon  "  —  Signing  Good 
Resolutions  with  Blood  —  The  Crab-apple  Tree  —  "Can't  You 
Give  Ale  Something  To  Do?"  —  Turned  Out  of  House  and 
Home  —  A  Personal  Experience  —  Story  of  the  Crane  and  the 
Swan  —  "  I  Want  Snails"  —  The  Descent  into  the  Pit  —  No 
Such  Thing  as  Wind  —  A  Puzzling  Question  —  The  Mystery  of 
Life  —  A  Thrilling  Incident  —  "  He  Isn't  Going  to  Catch  Me  " — 
Cornering  Him  in  One  End  of  a  Pew  —  Jumping  Over  the  Backs 
of  the  Pews  —  "I  Am  that  Nephew  "  —  Joking  at  Mr.  Moody's 
ENpense  —  A  Drunkard's  Downfall — The  Empty  Cot.     ,     .     150 

CHAPTER    IV. 

SEEKING   CHRIST   AND    FOLLOWING   HIM. 

Faithful,  Anxious,  and  Curious  Followers  —  The  Man  Who  Came  to 
See  the  Chairs  —  "  I  Thought  You  Were  a  Humbug"  —  A  Start- 
ling Question  —  "  Do  You  Know  That  Man?"  —  Reward  of  Ten 
Thousand  Dollars  for  a  Lost  Diamond  —  Crawling  Under  the 
Chairs  —  Jumping  from  the  Gallery  —  "  You  Are  Just  the  Man  "  — 
Mr.  Moody's  Condition  When  He  Arrived  in  Boston  as  a  Boy  — 
Crying  Unto  God  in  His  Extremity  — "  Aloody,  I  Don't  Like 
Your  Style "  —  Personal  Reminiscences  of  the  Burning  of 
Chicago  —  A  Night  of  Horror  —  An  Indignant  Woman  —  "  None 
of  Your  Business,  Sir"  —  "Where  is  Mary?"  —  The  Man  Who 
Ran  up  Behind  Mr.  Moody —  "  Talk  to  the  Other  Man;  I'm  All 
Right"  —  The  IVlan  Who  Pretended  He  Wasn't  Listening.     .     167 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND   HIS  WORK. 

What  Is  the  Holy  Spirit? —  "  What  Made  You  Tell  Mr.  Moody  All 
About  Me?"  —  An  Old  Negro  Preacher's  Observation  —  The 
Clock  Without  Hands  —  "  Everything  Going  to  Pieces  "  —  A 
"Long-headed"  ]\Ian  —  One  "Long"  Eye,  and  One  "Short" 
Eye  —  The  Hon.  Mr.  Lot,  of  Sodom  —  Grumblers  and  Fault- 
finders —  Coming  "  To  See  How  Moody  Does  It  "  —  People  Who 
Write   Letters  to   Mr.    Moody  —  "The  Terrible   Sin   of   Robbing 


14  CONTENTS. 

Hen-Roosts"  —  A  Caution  to  the  Old  Grave-digger  —  "To  Rent, 
With  or  Without  Power  "  —  Two  Ways  of  Digging  a  Well  —  A 
Well  that  "  Froze  up  in  Winter  and  Dried  Up  in  Summer "  — 
The  Old  Wooden   Pump  on   the   Farm 190 

CHAPTER    YI. 

SOWING  AND   Rr:APING  — WHAT   SHALL  THE 
HARVEST    BE? 

Family  Skeletons  —  Teaching  Servants  to  Lie  —  "  Isn't  It  Strange?  " — 
Teaching  Clerks  Dishonesty — JMr.  Moody's  Cliallcnge  —  A  Man 
Who  Accepted  It,  and  the  Result  —  Reckoning  the  Cost  —  Fore- 
closing the  last  Mortgage  —  Sowing  Wild  Oats  —  Sentenced  to 
Prison  for  Life  —  The  Man  in  Tears  in  the  Balcony  —  The  Story 
of  a  Confidential  Clerk  —  "  I  Am  Beyond  Help  "  —  Reaping  as  He 
had  Sown  —  "  Hello,  Stranger,  What  Are  You  Sowing?  "  —  A 
Story  of  John  B.  Gough  —  Mr.  Moody's  Reminiscences  of  Him  — 
The  Man  Who  Sowed  Oats  and  Thistles  — Deserting  Wife  and 
Children  —  The  Fugitive  Forger  —  The  Last  Night  at  Home  — 
A  Terrible  Dilemma  —  "  No   Such   Person   Lives   Here."     .     207 

CHAPTER    VH. 

TEMPERANCE. —  TO  DRUNKARDS  AND  REFORMED  MEN. 

Bound  Hand  and  Foot  —  Carried  Over  tlie  Rapids  —  Sowing  Wild 
Oats  —  A  Thrilling  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  E.xperience  —  Beg- 
ging for  Mercy  in  the  Dying  Hour  —  The  Drunkard's  Home  and 
Family  —  The  Ragged  and  Filthy  Tramp  —  "I  Have  Got  it 
Now  "  —  The  Arrow  that  Reached  His  Heart  —  Remarkable 
Story  of  a  Vagrant  and  Outcast  —  Keeping  Out  of  Debt  — 
Working  for  Twenty-five  Cents  a  Week  —  "That's  the  Man  for 
Me  "  —  Praying  to  God  for  More  —  "  I  Guess  I'll  Reform  Too  "— 
Drinking  Up  a  Coat  —  "  Mike,  Where  are  your  Shoes?  "  —  Sing- 
ing Hymns  in  Haunts  of  Vice — Taking  Si-xtcen  Men  Out  of  a 
Saloon  in  One  Night 226 

CHAPTJiR    \'HI. 

THE   INFINITE   LOVE  OF  GOD. 

A  Business  Man's  Novel  Suggestion  —  A  Touching  Incident — The 
Motto  in  Gas-jets  — The  Most  Beautiful  Thing  in  the  World  — 


CONTKNTS.  I  c 

An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Dublin  Experience  —  What  Changed 
Mr.  Moody's  Ideas  about  Preaching  —  Sentenced  to  Death  —  A 
Mother's  Anguish  —  A  Son's  Untimely  End  —  Asking  to  be  Laid 
Beside  her  Dead  Boy  —  Seeking  the  California  Gold  Fields  — 
No  Room  in  the  Lifeboats  —  Remarkable  Instance  of  a  Mother's 
Love  —  "Tell  Your  Father  I  Died  to  Save  You"  —  A  Father's 
Search  for  His  IMissing  Son  —  How  He  was  Found  in  San  Fran- 
cisco —  Story  of  the  Boys  Who  were  fcjrbidden  to  Climb  Trees  — 
The  Little  Dirty  Chimney-sweep — Clasped  to  His  Mother's 
Bosom  —  Mr.  Spurgeon  and  the  Weather-vane 249 


chaptp:r  IX. 


NOT  ASHAMED  OF  CHRIST.     STANDING  UP  FOR  JESUS. 

Mr.  Moody's  Ride  with  a  Mormon  Engineer  —  A  Man  Who  was  Proud 
of  His  Religion  —  An  Amusing  Story  of  Two  Cowards  —  A 
Policeman  Who  was  Ashamed  of  His  Uniform  —  The  Motto  on 
the  Building  —  A  Confession  of  Cowardice  —  Story  of  the  Two 
Young  Men  Who  Sneaked  Out  to  Hear  Mr.  Moody  —  Far-reach- 
ing Results  of  a  Sporting  Man's  Conversion  —  Students  Plan  to 
Rotten  Egg  Mr.  Moody — Carrying  a  Sermon  in  His  Pocket- 
book —  Three  Fast  Young  Men  Who  Went  to  Ridicule  Mr. 
Moody  —  A  Noisy  Meeting  —  A  Chinese  Test  of  a  Christian  — 
Speaking  On  a  Dry-goods  Box  —  Story  of  the  Young  Lawyer 
Who  Came  Out  for  Christ  —  How  Judge  McLean  took  His  Stand 
— Praying  in  the  Barracks 260 


CHAPTER    X. 


THE  SOUL'S  GREATEST  NEED  — WHAT  CHRIST  IS  TO  US. 

The  Text  on  the  Window  Pane  —  "  I've  Got  Him,  Thank  God!  " —  An 
Incident  in  the  Life  of  Napoleon  —  A  Legacy  of  Five  Million 
Dollars  —  Sitting  Quietly  at  the  Feet  of  Jesus  —  A  Touching 
Incident  —  "  I  Want  to  be  With  You  "  —  An  Incident  of  the  Civil 
War  — The  Call  for  Six  Hundred  Thousand  Men  —  "  We  Are 
Coming,  Father  Abraham  "—A  Alan  of  One  Idea  —  "  Oh,  Moody 
is  a  Fanatic  "  —  An  Old  Scotchman's  Remark  —  "  That  Man  Saved 
Me"  —  Selling  a  Woman's  Soul  at  Auction  —  An  Incident  of  Mr. 
Moody's  Boyhood  —  Early  Experiences  in  the  West — Looked 
Upon  with  Suspicion  —  Holding  meetings  in  Schoolhouscs.     271 


1 5  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XL 

THE   UNBOUNDED    GRACE    OF   GOD. 

/  Telling  Mr.   Moody  How  to  Preach  —  The  Old  Lady  Who   Locked 

the  Door — Mr.  Moody's  first  Arrival  in  Boston  as  a  Boy  — 
Haunting  the  Post-office  —  The  Man  Who  Built  a  Ladder  to 
Heaven  —  The  Captured  Spy  —  Mr.  Moody's  Vanished  Audi- 
ence —  The  Man  Behind  the  Furnace  —  Sunday-school  Teacher 
and  the  Silver  Watch  —  "More  to  Follow"  —  Living  on  "Old 
Joy  "  —  The  Man  Who  Never  Forgot  the  "  Meetings  of  '57  "  — 
One  of  Mr.  Moody's  Experiences  in  London  —  "  High  Level  "  or 
"  Low  Level  '"  —  A  Disgusted  Listener  —  "  A  Tick  at  a  Time  "  — 
"  Peculiar  "  People  —  "  Weak  "  and  "  Lazy  "  People.     .     .     .     283 

CHAPTER    XH. 

THE  COMPASSION  OF  CHRIST. 

An  Incident  of  the  Civil  War  —  Sentenced  to  Death  for  Sleeping  at 
/'  His  Post  —  A  Little  Girl's  Faith  in  Abraham  Lincoln  —  The 
President's  Compassion  —  "  Mother  Will  Come  "  —  How  Mr. 
Moody's  Heart  was  Softened  —  Experiences  Among  the  Poor  — 
"  Little  Adelaide  "  —  Sad  Scene  in  a  Drunkard's  Home  —  "  Can't 
You  Help  Me  Find  a  Place  to  Bury  Her?"  —  No  Money  to  Buy 
a  Shroud  —  "  Papa,  Suppose  I  Were  Drowned  "  —  Praying  for  a 
Tender  Heart  —  An  Unmarked  Grave  in  the  Potter's  Field  — 
At  the  Grave  of  "  Emma"  —  The  Touch  of  a  Mother's  Hand  — 
"Oh   Mother  !     Have  You   Come?" 305 

CHAPTER    XHI. 

FAITH. 

Starving  with  Ten  Thousand  Dollars  in  the  Bank  —  A  Man  Who 
Cannot  be  Pleased — Living  on  Creeds  —  "The  Building  is  on 
Fire  !  "  —  Going  Out  of  the  Window  Head  First  —  "I  Never 
Thought  of  That  "  —  How  Mr.  Moody  Prayed  for  Faith  —  The 
Two  Men  who  Planted  Trees  —  "I  Don't  Believe  In  Roots"  — 
The  Beggar  By  the  Wayside  — "  I've  Got  the  Money,  That's 
Enough"  —  The  Little  Invalid  —  Spelling  with  Crackers  —  A 
Message  for  Grandpa  —  The  Box  of  Paints  —  "I  Don't  See  It, 
But  You've  Got  It"  —  Jumping  Into  His  Father's  Arms  —  "  I'se 
Afraid,   Papa"  —  Weeping  by   His   Mother's  Grave.     .     .     .     317 


CONTENTS.  17 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   ELEMENTS   OF   PRAYER. 

An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  London  Experience  —  Four  Hundred 
Conversions  —  Prayers  of  a  Bedridden  Saint  —  An  Invitation 
from  a  London  Physician  —  Praying  for  Fifty  Years  —  Confess- 
ing to  His  Family  —  The  Specter  of  the  Five  Bottles  of  Wine  — 
"Oh,  I  Can't  pray"  —  A  Remarkable  Story  —  A  Family 
Quarrel  —  Wonderful  Reconciliation  of  a  Mother  and  Daughter  — 
Meeting  Half  Way  —  An  Impressive  Incident  —  An  Audience  in 
Tears  —  "  There  is  One  Woman  I  Will  Never  Forgive  "  —  An  Un- 
converted Woman  —  Living  on  Grumble  Alley  —  The  Smiling 
Christian  —  The  Carpenter  who  Cut  His  Thumb  —  "Bless  The 
Lord!  I  Didn't  Cut  it  Off  "  —  "I  Wonder  What's  the 
Matter?"        . 325 

CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  FR AVER  — Continued. 

The  Boy  Who  Wanted  a  Razor  —  Thrilling  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's 
Life  —  The  Imperiled  Steamer  —  A  Tiny  Light  over  the  Waves  — 
Rescuing  a  Ship's  Passengers  from  a  Watery  Grave  —  A  Re- 
markable Answer  to  Prayer  —  The  Boy  Who  Wanted  a 
Bicycle  —  Pleading  for  a  Father's  Life  —  Wonderful  Work  of  a 
Bedridden  Boy  —  Mr.  Moody  Prays  for  His  Brother  Twenty 
Years  —  Praying  for  Ridiculous  Things  —  Praying  on  the  Way 
Home  —  Knocking  at  the  Door  —  "My  Heart  is  Breaking"  — 
A  Mother's  Earnest  Appeal  —  The  Prayer  in  the  Woods  —  The 
Soldier's  Letter  —  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War  —  Mr.  Moody's 
Experience  with  an  Audience  of  Cambridge  Students.     .     .     338 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

CHRIST   THE    GOOD    SHEPHERD  —  CHRIST    THE 
COMFORTER. 

Binding  Up  Broken  Hearts  — The  Deacon's  Version  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Chapter  of  John  —  A  Startled  Preacher  —  Trying  to  Deceive 
the  Flock  —  Mr.  Moody's  Misquotation  Detected  by  an  Old 
Scotch  Lady  —  "Carl,  Come  Here"  —  Mr.  Moody  and  His 
Brother  Searching  for  a  Flock  of  Sheep  —  The  Better  Land  —  No 
One  Exempt  from  Trouble  —  Mr.  Moody's  Visits  to  the  Sorrow- 
ing—  The  Deserted  Wife  —  A  Broken  Heart  in  Every  House  — 
A  Tragedy  of  the  Sea  —  Mr.  Moody  at  the  Grave  of  a  Dear 
2 


^ 


1 8  CONTENTS. 

Friend  —  "I  Can't  Find  the  Brake  "  —  Tolling  the  Dcath-Kncll  — 
Mr.  ]\Iood3''s  Childish  Fear  of  Death  —  How  it  was  Overcome  — 
"  Dust  to  Dust." 354 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

TRUST  IN  GOD  GIVES  PERFECT  PEACE. 

False  Friends  —  The  Old  Woman  Who  "  Trusted  the  Lord  Till  the 
Harness  Broke"  —  A  Brave  Missionary —  "  Now  I  Lay  Me 
Down  to  Sleep  "  —  Seizing  the  Last  Rope  —  A  Dangerous  Feat  — 
An  Interesting  Story  of  the  Civil  War  —  The  Prayer  of  a  Little 
Fatherless  Girl  —  Asking  God  to  Lend  a  Little  House  to  Live 
In  —  The  Story  of  Two  Bibles  Bought  With  Children's  Money  — 
Among  Sick  and  Wounded  Soldiers  —  A  Soldier's  Dying  Message 
to  His  Mother  —  A  Glorious  Death  —  Mr.  Moody's  Experience 
in  the  Panic  of  1857  —  Starting  Out  as  asCommercial  Drummer  — 
Expecting  Something  Dreadful 366 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

EXCUSES. 

The  Three  Men  Who  Were  Invited  to  a  Feast  —  The  Five  Yoke  of 
Oxen  —  The  Sunday  Newspaper  —  Sunday  and  the  Bicycle  — 
Death-bed  Repentance  —  The  Bridge  of  Sighs  —  A  Hard  Master  — 
Mr.  Moody's  Efforts  to  Release  a  Man  from  Prison  —  Putting 
On  the  Uniform  of  Heaven  —  Hiring  a  Model  —  The  Beggar  and 
His  New  Suit  of  Clothes  —  Too  Well  Dressed  —  The  Barefooted 
Beggar  Boy  —  How  He  Obtained  Five  Pairs  01  Boots  a  Day  — 
The  Reckless  Sailor  Who  Longed  for  a  Better  Life  —  Some  of 
His  Experiences  —  Drinking  "On  the  Sly"  —  One  Way  of  De- 
clining an  Invitation  to  Dinner 384 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

GOOD    NEWS  — GLAD    TIDINGS    OF  GREAT    JOY. 

Reading  a  Death  Warrant  —  People  Who  are  Glum  and  Melancholy  — 
Entering  Richmond  with  Gen.  Grant  —  A  Thrilling  Incident  of 
the  Civil  War  —  Two  Men  to  be  Selected  for  Immediate  Exe- 
cution—  Drawing  the  Names  —  A  Startling  Message  that  came 
to  Richmond  —  Liberating  Forty  Million  Serfs  —  A  Disappointed 
Preacher  —  An  Empty  Theater  —  "Herrings  for  Nothing!"  — 
Incredulous  People  —  Paying  People's  Debts  —  The  Men  Who 
Arrived  Too  Late  —  Anecdote  f)f  Mr.  Spurgeon  —  The  Postman's 
Knock  —  Farewell  to  the  Little  Emigrants  —  Anecdote  of  Chaplain 
Trumbull  —  The  Name  that  Thrilled  His  Soul — "Fire  on  those 
Flags    If    You    Dare  !  " 399 


C(JNTENTS.  jQ 

CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  STANDARD  OF  MT.  SINAI. 

A  Woman  Who  Worshiped  Herself  —  The  Man  Who  Never  Sinned  — 
Swearing  "  From  the  Mouth  Out  "  —  A  Negro  Preacher  Who 
DecHned  to  Preach  a  Sermon  on  Steahng  —  People  Who 
"  Squirm  "  —  "  My  Boy  Richard  Thinks  It's  Wrong  "  —  Sunday 
Newspapers  —  How  Mr.  Moody  Kept  Sunday  When  a  Boy — 
Working  Seven  Days  a  Week  —  The  Drunken  Sailor  Converted  — 
"  I  am  So  Tired  !  "  —  '"  That  is  My  Washerwoman  "  —  The  Vale- 
dictorian's ]\Iother — "Get  Away,  Old  Man;  I  Don't  Know  You  " — 
Story  of  the  Opium  Smuggler  —  The  Cashier's  Mistake  —  "  How 
Far  Is  It  To  Heaven?  " 412 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

LOVE    AND    SYMPATHY. 

Won  to  Jesus  by  a  Smile  —  "  That  Man  Must  be  a  Minister  "  —  The 
Best  for  the  Money  —  Light  from  the  Celestial  Hills  —  No  Heart 
so  Hard  but  Love  will  Soften  It  —  A  Theory  Upset  —  "I  Ain't 
Never  Comin'  to  This  Sunday-school  no  More  "  —  Bearing  on  the 
"Curiosity"  Chord  —  Making  up  a  Bundle  for  Johnny  —  Don't 
Want  to  go  to  Heaven  if  Grandfather  is  There  "  —  Going  West 
to  Get  Rid  of  the  Neighbors  —  "  I  Suppose  It's  my  Duty  to  Say 
Something"  —  "Now,  Moody,  You  Are  All  Wrong"  —  The 
Power  of  a  Loving  Word  —  "  This  Is  Papa's  Friend  "  —  Melted 
to  Tears  at  the  Name  of  "  Brother." 430 

CHAPTER   XXH. 

THE  FUTURE  STATE  — HEAVEN  AND  WHERE  IT  IS  — 
ITS  INHABITANTS  AND  RICHES —SHALL  WE  KNOW 
EACH    OTHER    THERE? 

The  Future  State  —  What  the  Bible  Says  About  Heaven- — -"Every- 
where" ]\Ieant  "Nowhere"  —  How  Far  Away  is  Heaven?  — 
Heaven  a  Locality  —  A  Glimpse  of  the  Heavenly  World  —  The 
Dying  Soldier  —  An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Life  —  The  Vacant 
Chair  — After  the  Funeral  —  "Where  is  My  Mamma?"  —  Read- 
ing His  Own  Record  —  An  Incident  of  the  Civil  War  —  Calling 
the  Roll  of  Heaven  —  The  Dying  Soldier  Who  Answered, 
"Here  !  Here  !  "  —  The  Man  Who  Could  Talk  of  Nothing  but 
Corner  Lots  —  A  Question  Often  Asked  of  Mr.  Moody  —  Shall 
We  Know  F-ach  (^thcr  in  Heaven? 440 


20  contp:nts. 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE    OVERCOMING    LIFE. 

An  Incident  in  London  —  Mr.  Moody's  Experiences  when  He  was 
Converted  —  "Trouble  with  D.  L.  Moody"  —  At  the  Outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  —  Going  to  War  with  a  Whoop  —  Self  Control  — 
"Mother,  Where's  My  Collar?"  —  Taking  a  Dose  of  Unpleasant 
]\Iedicine  —  Offering  His  \\'\ie  a  Bouquet  Instead  of  an  Apology  — 
A  Story  of  Anger  and  Contrition  —  A  Manly  Apology  —  Story 
of  Three  Millionaires  —  Waking  Up  and  Finding  Himself  a  Rich 
Man  —  I\Iean  and  Contemptible  People  —  The  Jealous  Eagle  and 
Its  Fate  —  The  Boy  and  the  Echo  —  A  Wise  Mother  —  Mr. 
Moody's  Experience  at  a  Dinner  Party  —  Washing  out  religion 
with   a    Bucket  of  Cold   Water 458 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

PERSONAL  WORK  IN  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Enthusiasm  Essential  to  Success  —  Teachers  Pulling  One  Way  and 
Parents  Another  —  The  iscouraged  Superintendent  —  People 
Who  are  Like  a  Bundle  of  Shavings  —  Taking  Hold  and  "  Holding 
On"  —  A  Touching  Incident  —  The  Little  Girl  Mr.  Moody  was 
Proud  Of  —  A  Rich  Young  Woman's  Choice  —  An  Amazed 
Father  and  Mother  —  ''  Can  You  Give  Me  a  Class?  "  —  The  Shoe- 
maker's Boy  —  "None  of  Your  Business"  —  Gaining  a  Raga- 
muf^n's  Confidence  —  "  If  you  Go  There  again  I'll  Flog  You"  — 
Taking  His  Floggings  in  Advance  —  President  Lincoln's  Visit 
to  Mr.  Moody's  Sunday-school  —  Feeling  Two  Inches  Taller  — 
A  Class  of  Frivolous  Girls  —  A  Night  Mr.  Moody  Never  Forgot  — 
How  He  Lost  His  Ambition  for  Business 471 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

THE    GOOD    S.\MARITAN. 

The  Man  Who  Fell  Among  Thieves  —  The  Priest  Who  Passed  Him 
By  —  John  Wesley's  Motto  —  A  Cry  for  Help  —  Criminal  Selfish- 
ness —  Driven  Out  of  Town  —  Too  Many  Committees  —  The 
Levite  —  The  Good  Intention  —  "Drawing"  Church  Members  — 
Blaming  the  Usher  —  The  Chinaman  and  the  Hoodlums  —  Race 
Prejudice  —  The  Kind-hearted  Samaritan  —  A  "Blowing  Up"  — 
A  Year  Wasted  —  Binding  Up  His  Wounds  —  A  Worker  in  the 
Seven  Dials  —  Gathering  in  the  Outcasts  —  Giving  Time,  Money, 
and  Personal  Effort  —  The  Fiddling  Infidel  —  Paying  the  Inn- 
Keeper —  A  Pung  Full  of  Boys  —  "Hitch  On"  —  "Get  Away! 
Get  Away  !  "  —  A  Serious  Case  of  Homesickness 483 


CONTENTS.  21 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

THE    INSPIRATION    OF   THE    BIBLE. 

People  Who  Pick  at  the  Bible  —  Critics  and  Cavillers  —  Jonah  and 
the  Whale  and  Some  Other  Doubted  Stories  —  The  Scotchman's 
Answer  to  a  Modern  Philosopher  —  The  Boy  Skeptic  Who  Wanted 
to  Argue  with  Mr.  Moody  —  Ministers  who  Delight  in  Picking  the 
Bible  to  Pieces  —  The  Only  Verse  He  Could  Quote  —  The  Bible 
Judged  without  Examination  —  The  Minister's  Cut  Bible  —  "  I'm 
Going  to  Hold  On  to  the  Covers  "  —  Cutting  Out  what  You  do 
not  Agree  With  —  The  Supernatural  Things  of  the  Bible  —  The 
Bible  in  Three  Hundred  and  Fifty  DifTerent  Languages  — Issuing 
Fifteen   Hundred   Bibles  an   Hour 496 

CHAPTER   XXVH. 

THE  BIBLE  AND   HOW  TO   STUDY  IT 

Different  Ways  of  Studying  the  Bible  —  Digging  Deep  for  Heavenly 
Truths — -An  Infiders  Challenge  to  I\Ir.  Moody — Using  a  Con- 
cordance —  The  Man  Who  Wanted  a  Book  on  Assurance  —  Study- 
ing the  Bible  with  a  Telescope  —  Characteristics  of  the  Gospels  — 
How  Mr.  Moody  Held  the  Attention  of  the  Northfield  Students  — 
Studying  the  Bible  with  a  Microscope  —  A  Real  and  an  Artificial 
Bee  —  Preachers  with  Flippant  Tongues  —  Mr.  Moody's  Inter- 
leaved Bible  —  Marking  the  Bible  —  Mr.  Moody's  Recollections 
of  the  Family  Bible  —  "  Greeney  From  the  Country  "  ^  The  Im- 
portance of  Knowing 50Q 

CHAPTER    XXVHI. 

THE   STORY    OF   THE    DELUGE  — TO    FATHERS    AND 
MOTHERS. 

An  Awful  Communication  —  Nuah  Considered  a  Lunatic  —  Jeered 
at  by  His  Neighbors  —  The  Man  Who  Claimed  that  Force  and 
Matter  Work  Together — Rocks  Made  of  Sand,  and  Sand  Made 
of  Rocks  —  "  Noah  and  His  Folly  "  —  Sending  Reporters  to 
"Write  Up"  Noah  and  His  Ark  —  "No  Signs  of  a  Storm"  — 
Confidence  in  a  Father's  Piety  —  The  Beasts  and  Fowls  Flock 
to  the  Ark^ — -A  Warning  Always  conies  Before  the  Blow  —  "  You 
Can't  Get  In  "  —  The  Last  Day  and  the  Last  Hour  —  "  Are  All  the 
Children  In?"  —  A  Wealthy  Land-owner  and  His  Dying  Son  — 
"Father,  Have  I  Got  to  Die?"  — "I  Shall  be  With  Jesus  To- 
night "  —  Tlic    Hymn    Book   Stained   with    Blood 522 


22  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE    RICH    I'OOL. 

The  Biblical  Meaning  of  "  Fool  "  —  Working  and  Planning  from  the 
Cradle  to  the  Grave  —  Living  iar  this  World  Only  —  Pulling 
Down  the  Old  Barns  —  Making  Plans  for  the  Future  —  A  Visit 
at  the  Silent  Midnight  Hour — Pleading  With  Death  —  Stricken 
with  Grief  —  The  Epitaph  on  the  Monument  —  A  Terrible  Mis- 
take—The Mother  and  the  Little  Blind  Child  —  One  of  Mr. 
Moody's  Reminiscences  —  The  Sailor's  Pertinent  Question  —  A 
Mother's  Ambition  for  Her  Only  Son  —  The  Prickings  of  Con- 
science —  A  Promise  to  a  Dying  Mother  —  The  Graves  of  the 
Household  —  "Father.  Come  this  Way"  —  The  Little  Beckon- 
ing Hand  —  W'hcre  will  You  be  Next  Year? 535 

CHAPTER   XXX. 

INFIDELS     AND     INFIDELITY. 

Sending  His  Daughter  From  the  Room  —  "I  Did  not  Think  it  Would 
do  Her  any  Good  to  Hear  What  I  Said"  —  A  Crooked  Path  — 
A  Son  Gone  Astray  —  "  Father,  I  Am  Dying  "  —  "  W^iat  is  to 
Become  of  Me?"  —  Farewell  Forever — Full  Inspiration  of  the 
Bible  —  Crying  for  Mercy  —  A  Broken-hearted  Wife  —  The  Dying 
Infidel  — "What  Have  I  Got  to  Hold  On  To?"  — Last  Words 
of  Lord  Byron  and  St.  Paul  —  A  Wife's  Request  —  Mr.  Moody's 
Visit  to  an  Infidel  —  Laughed  at  for  His  Pains  —  Asking  for  Just 
One  Favor  —  "When  I  Am  Converted  I  Will  Let  You  Know  "  — 
A    Night  of   Agony  —  "Try   Your   Hand   On    Me."     .     .     .     545 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 

BACKSLIDERS     AND     BACKSLIDING. 

People  Who  Have  "  Never  Slid  Forward  "  —  Mr  Moody's  Theology  — 
The  Cause  of  Hard  Times  —  The  Curse  of  Tobacco  and  Whis- 
key—"  I  Have  Had  a  Bitter  Time  "  — Mr.  Moody  and  the  Old 
Backslider  —  An  Incident  of  the  Civil  War  —  A  Father  Searching 
the  Hospitals  for  His  Son — "John  Thompson,  Your  Father  Wants 
You"  —  Peculiarities  of  Backsliders  —  Pretexts  and  Excuses  — 
Bad  Husbands  and  Wretched  Wives  —  Story  of  the  Boy  in  "  the 
Bush  "  —  An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  London  Experience  —  A 
Man  and  His  Four  Photographs  —  Advertising  Himself  as  a 
"Prominent  Worker"  —  An  Incident  on  the  Plains.     .     .     .     554 


CONTENTS.  23 

CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD. 

One  Thing  God  Cannot  Do  —  What  Became  of  the  Missing  Five 
Dollars? — -Three  Stumbling  Blocks  —  A  Humorous  Incident  — 
The  Man  Who  was  Looking  for  "  Cold  Chills "  —  A  Re- 
markable Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Career  —  Mr.  Moody  Loses 
His  Way  —  "  Would  You  Tell  Me  Who  You  Are?"  —  An  Aston- 
ished Scotchman  —  The  Colorado  Convict  and  His  Flowers  — 
"They  Remind  Me  of  My  Mother"  —  Obstinate  Sammy  —  An 
Incident  in  Glasgow  —  A  Memorable  Night  —  How  Did  John 
Draw  the  Crowd?  —  A  "Sensational"  Preacher  —  "Did  You 
Notice  His  Coat?"  —  Remarkable  Story  of  Mr.  Moody's  Neigh- 
bor,  Long  —  The  Pointing  Finger  of  a  Madman 564 

CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

SOCIAL    AND    WORLDLY    AMUSEMENTS. 

The  Boy  Who  Shunned  His  Father  —  "  Oh,  He  Is  An  Old  Fogy"  — 
Marrying  a  Man  to  Convert  Him  —  Tottering  Homes  and  Blasted 
Lives  —  Where  Sorrow  and  Disaster  Thrive  —  The  Banker  and 
His  Dishonest  Partners  —  Dying  of  a  Broken  Heart  —  Northfield 
Boys  and  Early  Apples  —  Straddling  the  Fence  —  An  Incident  of 
the  Civil  W^ar — Putting  Up  the  Wrong  Flag  —  The  Converted 
Man  Who  Wouldn't  Give  Up  Anything  —  Is  it  Right  to  Dance?  — 
Shall  I  Go  To  The  Theater? —  "  This  Is  No  Place  for  Me  " — 
"  Don't  Make  a  Fool  of  Yourself  "  — "  Come,  Moody,  Let's  Have 
a  Game  "  —  Card  Parties  —  "  Chutter,  Chutter,  Chutter  "  —  "  The 
Man  that  Comes  here  Sundays  "  —  Footprints  in  the  Snow.     581 

CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

AN    APPEAL   TO    P.\RENTS. 

A  Theory  that  Proved  to  be  All  Wrong  —  "  Mother  Is  Not  In  "  — 
Social  Lies  —  Formation  of  Character  —  From  the  Sunday-school 
to  Beer  Gardens  —  Reaping  the  Consequences  —  "How  Did  You 
Come  Here?"  —  Mr  [Moody's  Secret  —  In  Prison  Under  an 
.Assumed  Name  —  Moving  in  the  "  Highest  Circles  "  —  A  Broken- 
hearted Mother  —  "  Cut  It  Finer"  —  Looking  Upon  Sunday  with 
Dread  —  "  Natural  Goodness  "  —  The  Lighthouse  Keeper  W^atch- 
ing  for  the  Return  of  His  Sailor  Son  —  A  Grief-stricken  Father  — 
Removing  His   Mother's   Body  —  A   Remarkable   Story  —  "  Plave 


2A  CONTENtS. 

You   Seen   My   Boy?"  —  Story  of  the   Little  Wooden   Cross  —  A 
Mother's  Letter  to  Mr.  Moody 596 

CHAPTER    XXXV. 

HOW  TO  CONDUCT  MEETINGS  — TO  YOUNG  CONVERTS. 

Preaching  Everybody  Out  of  Doors  —  Killing  a  Meeting  —  "A  Pity 
to  Stop  While  There's  Anybody  Listening  "  —  Some  Astonished 
Elders  —  Asking  for  an  Explanation  —  Curiosity  Aroused  —  Long- 
winded  Ministers  —  Deacons  Who  Talk  Too  Long  —  What  an 
Old  Deacon  Said  —  Six  Years  Without  a  Welcome  —  "  Disturbing 
the  Impression"  —  Air.  Aloody's  Rejoinder  —  Harrowing  it  In  — 
What  to  do  With  People  Who  Sleep  in  Church— How  Mr. 
Moody  Slept  in  Dr.  Kirk's  Church  —  The  Result  —  A  Hot-Water 
Advocate  —  A  Convert's  Experience  Under  a  Railroad  Bridge  — 
"  Wait  Till  I  Get  My  Big  Brother  "  —  Story  of  An  Old  Colored 
Woman  —  Jumping  Through  a  Stone  Wall  —  "  Before  and  After  " 
—  The  Uplifted  Knife  —  Reminiscences  of  Mr.  Moody's  Early 
Career 610 

CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  WORK  —  FAITH, 
COURAGE,  ENTHUSIASM,  AND  PERSEVERANCE  — 
NINE  NEW  THINGS  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN. 

A  Scotchman's  Observation  —  "  We  Die,  but  Never  Surrender  "  — 
Weighing  Men  —  "Man  Overboard!"  —  The  Light  at  the  Port 
Hole  —  Saved  by  a  Seasick  Man  —  The  Woman  Who  Went  to 
War  with  a  Poker  —  Wandering  in  the  Blizzard  —  The  Tiny  Light 
in  the  Window  —  The  Man  by  the  Lamp-post  —  An  Impudent 
Fellow  —  "Moody,  You  Are  Too  Zealous"  —  An  Unexpected 
Call  at  Daybreak  —  An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Early  Life  — 
"Go  Pick  Cotton"  —  Why  One  Stone  was  Missing  —  Stephen 
Girard  and  the  Irishman  —  "I  was  There!"  —  A  Fatal  Mis- 
take—  Hanging  On  to  the  "Old  Man"  —  Dressing  Up  "Out- 
side "  and  "  Inside  "  —  Story  of  the  Farmer  and  His  Pump  — 
"  I'll  Soon  Make  that  Right  "  —  Patching  Up  "  Old  Adam  "  — 
The  Old  Judge  and  His  Negro,  Sambo  —  "  Good  Night."     .     621 


By  Rev.  LYMAN   ABBOTT,  D.  D. 


D  WIGHT  L.  MOODY  needs  no  introduction  to  any 
English  reading  circle,  but  I  am  so  glad  to  be  in  even 
the  slightest  measure  identified  with  him  and  his  work, 
that  I  cannot  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  acceding  to  the 
recjuest  of  the  publishers  to  write  an  introdu-ction  to  this 
volume. 

For  no  man  on  either  side  of  the  ocean  has  done  so  much 
as  Mr.  Moody  to  solve  practically  the  problem  often  and 
laboriously  discussed  :  How  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  non-church 
goers.  No  ordained  preacher  of  any  denomination  has 
reached  with  his  voice  so  many  thousands  as  has  this  lay- 
preacher.  Most  clergymen  speak  to  hundreds,  Mr.  i\Ioody 
has  spoken  to  thousands ;  most  clergymen  speak  to  the  same 
auditors  week  after  week,  Mr.  Moody  has  gathered  congrega- 
tions in  almost  every  great  city  in  both  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain ;  most  clergymen  speak  to  men  and  women 
brought  up  in  a  religious  atmosphere,  and  measurably  familiar 
from  the  cradle  with  religious  truth  ;  Mr.  Moody  has  spoken  to 

(25) 


26  INTRODUCTION    BY    REV.    LYMAN    ABBOTT. 

many  men  and  women  who  but  for  him  would  never  have 
heard  the  name  of  Christ  exeept  in  jirofanity.  The  music 
contributed  by  his  former  companion  in  work.  Mr.  Sankey, 
undoubtedly  did  much  to  attract  these  congregations  at  first ; 
but  the  attraction  furnished  by  the  music  was  no  more  esthetic 
than  the  attraction  furnished  by  the  speaking  was  oratorical. 
In  both  cases  it  was  the  life  expressed,  not  the  form  of  the  ex- 
pression, which  drew  together  tlic  multitudes,  and  the  music 
and  the  speech  have  both  illustrated  the  meaning  and  the  truth 
of  Christ's  saying,  "  And  I.  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  Me." 

P^or  this  is  what  pre-eminently  ^NFr.  Moody  has  done  by  his 
speech  and  Mr.  Sankey  by  his  music  —  they  have  lifted  up 
Christ ;  and  in  the  presence  of  this  fact  all  criticisms  on  the 
taste,  the  culture,  the  theology,  are  uninipt)rtant.  In  this 
respect,  Mr.  Moody's  preaching  and  its  et^ects  have  repeated 
the  phenomena  of  the  Methodist  movement  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  When  Mr.  Mood\'  began  his  l^^vangelical  ministry, 
as  when  John  Wesley  began  his  over  a  century  earlier,  the 
preaching  in  the  regular  pulpits  and  by  the  duly  ai)])ointed 
ecclesiastical  teachers  too  often  lacked  the  simplicity  of  Christ's 
spirit.  Sometimes  it  had  become  the  rci)L'tition  of  a  theologi- 
cal system  ;  sometimes  a  course  of  instruction  in  ethical  cul- 
ture ;  sometimes  a  proclamation  of  law,  a  Thou  shalt  and  Thou 
shalt  not ;  sometimes  a  species  of  emotionalism  more  or  less 
successfully  atlcnipting  to  ])e  dramatic;  sometimes  it  could 
hardly  be  distinguished  from  literary  essays  or  political  stump 
speeches.  Doubtless,  in  spite  of  such  defections,  there  was  in 
the  Christian  Church  a  great  deal  of  genuine  Cospel  preach- 
ing —  more  than  there  was  in  the  organized  churches 
either  in  Old  England  or  New  luigland  in  the  i)revious  cen- 
tury. I'ut  the  one  age,  as  the  other,  called  for  an  itinerant 
prophet  who  should  not  be  educated  in  scholastic  theology, 
who  should  go  outside  the  churches  to  the  "  plain  people," 
who  should  speak  the  language  of  connnon  life,  not  that  of  the 
schools,  and  whose  message  should  be  neither  law,  ethics,  nor 


INTRODUCTION    BY    REV.    LVMAX    ABBOTT. 


27 


theology,   but   the   Glad   Tidings   of  a   crucitied   and   a   risen 
Christ. 

This  has  been  pre-eminently  Mr.  Moody's  message.  His 
whole  teaehing  might  be  summed  uj)  in  the  one  sentence  which 
constituted  Luther's  "little  Clospel":  "  (lod  so  loved  the 
world  that  lie  gave  His  c^ily  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish  but  have  everlasting  life." 
In  his  philosophical  interpretation  of  the  facts  of  religion,  Mr. 
Moody  has  in  important  respects  disagreed  with  men  who 
have  gladly  co-operated  with  him  and  with  whom  he  has 
gladly  co-operated.  Not  the  least  of  the  many  services  wdiich 
Mr.  Moody  rendered  to  the  age  has  been  this  practical 
demonstration  that  religion  is  more  than  theology,  and  that, 
based  upon  this  principle,  a  true  Christian  catholicity  is  always 
possible.  Mr.  Moody's  psychological  conception  of  inspira- 
tion undoubtedly  differed  from  that  of  George  Adam  Smith, 
and  his  philosophy  of  redemption  differed  from  that  of 
Henry  Drummond.  lUit  he  worked  in  hearty  fellowship 
with  both,  much  to  the  surprise  and  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
of  some  men  of  narrower  mold,  who  could  not  under- 
stand Christ's  declaration,  "  He  that  is  not  against  us  is  for  us." 
The  same  s])irit  enabled  him,  though  a  radical  Protestant, 
to  maintain  friendly  relations  with  Roman  Catholic  ecclesias- 
tics, and,  though  a  Second  Adventist  —  in  the  non-partisan 
sense  of  that  term  —  to  work  in  cordial  relations  with  men 
who  believed  that  the  prophecies  of  Christ's  second  coming 
W'Cre  fulfilled  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  This  same  spirit 
has  absolutely  prevented  any  formation  of  a  new  school  about 
him  as  a  leader.  There  is  a  Northfield  in  the  Cnited  States,  as 
there  is  a  Keswick  in  England  ;  but  there  is  no  Northfield 
school  in  the  United  States  as  there  is  a  Keswick  school  in 
England.  Mr.  Aloody's  theology  is  simply  this ;  Christ's 
Gospel  is  the  cure  for  the  world's  sin  and  sorrow.  That  God 
loves  the  world  of  men,  that  He  has  given  His  only  Son  to  die 
for  the  world,  that  in  the  death  and  resurrection  of  His  Son  is 
the  secret  of  the  world's  redemption,  that  by  reason  of  it  the 


28  INTRODUCTION    I5V    RFA'.    LYMAN    ABBOTT. 

\vorld  eventually  will  be  delivered  from  sin  and  sorrow,  and 
that  any  individual  may  be  delivered  from  sin  and  sorrow  now 
by  simply  accepting  the  gift  of  life  from  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  His  Son,  —  this  is  an  epitome  of  Dwight  L.  Moody's 
preaching.  Nothing  more  than  this  is  essential  to  the  Gospel  ; 
nothing  less  than  this  suffices  for  the  Gospel. 

Some  of  the  criticisms  to  which  Mr.  Moody  has  been  sub- 
jected would  be  amazing  were  it  not  a  common  experience 
that  he  who  is  ambitious  to  be  a  critic  rarely  takes  the  trouble 
to  ascertain  whether  his  criticism  is  founded  on  fact.  Such 
critics  have  imagined  that  Mr.  Moody  was  accustomed  to 
attract  men  by  terrifying  them,  and,  by  appealing  to  im- 
aginary fears,  sought  to  produce  a  feverish  excitement 
which  passed  for  religion.  That  there  has  been  such 
preaching  in  Evangelical  circles  is  very  true,  though  much 
less  of  it  than  assailants  of  the  church  would  have  us  believe ; 
but  such  is  not  Mr.  Moody's  message  nor  Mr.  Moody's 
spirit.  "  I  used  to  think."  he  says  in  one  of  liis  sermons,  "  of 
God  as  a  stern  judge  on  tlie  throne,  from  whose  wrath  Jesus 
Christ  had  saved  me.  It  seems  to  me  now,  1  could  not  have 
a  falser  idea  of  God  than  that.  Since  I  have  become  a  father, 
I  have  made  this  discovery:  Tliat  it  takes  more  love  and 
sacrifice  for  the  father  to  give  uj)  the  son  than  it  docs  for  the 
son  to  die."  * 

Mr.  Moody's  i)reaching  was  fotnidcd  not  on  the  wrath  of 
God,  but  on  God's  love.  Tliat  Mr.  Moody  sonietimes  appealed 
to  fear  is  true,  though,  so  far  as  I  recall  his  ministry,  never 
to  mere  physical  fear;  he  often  appealed  to  conscience,  and 
alwavs  with  forcefulness  ;  but  he  generally  appealed  to  love  and 
hope.  .\nd  this  was  the  real  secret  of  his  power.  It  was 
the  secret  of  the  power  of  the  Methodist  preachers  in  the  last 
century,  of  the  Lutheran  preachers  in  the  Reformation,  and 
of  the  apostolic  preachers  in  the  primitive  Church.  To  men 
who  had  lapsed  into  a  dull  despair  or  a  dull  self-content  more 


*  Men  i)f  the   Bible,   p.    22. 


INTRODUCTION    BY    REV.     LYMAN    ABBOTT. 


29 


dang"erous  than  despair,  this  Gospel  message  of  God's  love, 
when  interpreted  by  a  divinely  inspired  love  for  men  in  the 
preaeher,  has  always  brought  with  it  the  inspiration 
of  love  and  the  impulse  of  hope.  The  translation  of  the 
love  of  God  into  the  love  of  a  human  soul  for  a  hu- 
man soul,  not  because  it  is  worthy  of  love,  but  because 
it  is  in  need  oi  love,  is  the  Gospel,  and  when  it  comes 
to  men  who  are  hopeless  of  ever  becoming  worthy  of  doing 
anything  worthy  it  rarely  fails  to  meet  a  response.  And  this 
was  the  first  element  in  Mr.  Moody's  power. 

The  second  element  was  like  it:  His  conviction  that 
when  this  life  of  love  and  hope  is  born  in  a  man's  heart  and 
he  begins  to  live  or  to  try  to  live  as  Christ  would  have  him 
li\'e,  because  Christ  loves  him,  he  is  saved.  Lost  and  saved  in 
Mr.  Moody's  preaching  are  both  present  facts.  The  man  who 
is  without  God  and  without  that  life  of  hope  and  love  which 
faith  in  God  imparts  is  lost;  the  man  who  lives  with  God  and 
possesses  that  life  of  hope  and  love  which  faith  in  God  imparts 
is  saved.  That  there  is  an  eternal  lost  which  lies  in  the  future 
of  the  one  condition  and  .an  eternal  saved  which  lies  in  the 
future  of  the  other  is  true  ;  but  this  is  not  the  truth  which  Mr. 
Moody  emphasized.  He  emphasized  the  facts  of  a  present 
loss  and  a  present  salvation.  It  was  his  thought,  not  that  the 
world  will  be  lost,  but  that  it  is  lost ;  not  that  the  Christian  will 
be  saved,  but  that  he  is  saved.  And  he  made  this  message  of  a 
present  salvation  effective  because  the  message  grew  out  of  his 
own  personal  experience.  He  did  not  promise  a  future  hope, 
which  may  be  realized  and  may  not ;  he  promised  a  present  ex- 
perience which  he  was  sure  can  be  realized  because  he  had 
realized  it  himself.  No  priest  or  bishop,  no,  not  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  nor  the  Pope  of  Rome,  can  pronounce 
with  more  authority  the  absolution  and  remission  of  their  sins 
to  all  those  who  truly  repent  and  unfeignedly  believe  His  holy 
Gospel  than  did  this  layman  who  disavowed  all  semblance  of 
ecclesiastical  authority.  But  in  this  absolution  there  was  no 
assumption  ;  his  authority  was  spiritual,  not  ecclesiastical.  With 


^O  INTRODUCTION    BY    REV.   LYMAN    AIJBOTT. 

Paul  he  might  truly  say,  "  I  received  it  not  of  man,  but  by 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ."  It  belonged  to  him  as  it  belongs 
to  every  disciple  w  ho  has  a  like  exi)erience. 

And  this  Gospel  whicli  Mr.  Moody  derived  from  ex- 
perience he  interjireted  in  tlie  terms  of  experience.  He  had 
little  imagination  and  no  fancy.  He  rarely  drew  illustrations 
from  nature,  and  even  more  rarel)-  from  hooks.  The  reader  of 
this  volume  can  hardly  fail  to  be  impressed  1)\-  the  fact  that, 
with  rare  exceptions,  his  illustrations  are  concrete  biographical 
accounts  of  the  experience  which  he  is  expounding.  Nor  arc 
these  experiences  used  to  elucidate  a  theory  ;  they  are  used  to 
assure  his  hearers  of  a  fact.  Though  Mr.  Moody  was  never 
a  pastor,  probably  no  settled  clergyman  ever  had  so  wide 
and  varied  a  pastoral  experience,  hew  priests  have  received 
so  many  and  so  absolutely  genuine  confessions.  His  personal 
work  was  (juite  as  extraordinary  as  his  platform  and  public 
work.  And  this  personal  work  gave  him  an  insight  into 
human  experiences  which  he  used  freely  in  interpreting  both 
the  needs  of  humanity  and  the  gifts  of  (iod.  He  spoke  like 
a  lawyer  presenting  a  case,  and  told  with  a  simplicity  which  is 
better  than  rhetorical  skill  the  story  of  the  witnesses  who 
attested  his  cause. 

He  was  thus  singularly  free  from  that  professionalism  which 
is  the  bane  of  the  ])id])it.  Hie  ease  with  which  the  preacher 
falls  int(j  it  and  the  difficulty  with  which  he  aveiids  it  are  not 
ordinarily  a])prehended  1)_\'  the  layman.  'Jdie  minister  is  ex- 
])ected  to  be  ready  at  the  appointed  tiiue  to  speak  to  a  relatively 
indifferent  audience  on  the  highest  spiritual  themes.  He  is 
expected  not  onh'  to  charm  tliem  b\-  his  literary  skill,  but  also  lo 
stir  them  b}-  his  divine  passion.  1  le  might  by  careful  prei)ara- 
tion  secure  the  literar}-  charm,  but  the  divine  passion  cannot 
be  kept  subject  to  call.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  preacher 
oscillates  between  thinking  it  his  dut\',  on  the  one  hand,  to 
employ  all  the  resources,  if  not  also  all  the  artihces  of  the 
orator,  and  trusting,  on  the  other  hand,  to  the  euKjlionalism 
of  the  moment  to  give  efficiency  to  extemporaneous  exhorta- 


IXTROnUCTKlN    BY    RKW     I.V.MAN    ABBOTT  ^j  j 

tions.  In  cither  case  lie  hecomes  tlic  professional  oratt)r. 
Mr.  Moody  was  not  an  orator  and  did  not  try  to  be  one. 
As  he  stood  on  the  platform  he  looked  like  a  business  man  ;  he 
dressed  like  a  business  man ;  he  took  the  meeting  in  hand  as 
a  business  man  would ;  he  spoke  in  a  business  man's  fashion  ; 
he  had  no  holy  tone  ;  he  never  introduced  a  jest  for  a  jest's  sake, 
but  he  did  not  fear  to  use  humor  if  humor  would  serve  his  pur- 
pose ;  he  never  turned  a  sentence  neatly  to  catch  that  applause 
of  the  eye  which  is  substituted  in  religious  assemblies  for  ap- 
plause of  the  hands  ;  and  whether  they  believed  with  him  or 
not,  his  auditors  were  always  sure  that  he  believed  all  that  he 
said,  and  indeed,  said  less  than  he  believed  because  no  language 
could  express  fully  the  experience  of  his  own  life. 

x\nd  this  conviction  was  confirmed  l)y  his  life.  He  lived  as 
he  preached.  His  faith  in  the  power  of  faith  was  exemplified 
by  his  conduct ;  he  might  well  have  claimed  that  it  was  verified 
by  results.  Without  salary  or  stated  lueans  of  support,  he  not 
only  lived  apparently  a  comfortable,  though  never  a  luxurious, 
life,  maintained  a  home,  and  educated  his  children,  but  he 
carried  on  an  itinerant  ministry,  the  expense  of  which  in  travel 
alone  could  not  have  been  inconsiderable,  built  up  and  sus- 
tained a  great  Biblical  school  for  the  education  of  lay-workers 
in  Chicago,  two  large  and  flotirishing  educational  institutions, 
one  for  girls  at  Northfield,  one  for  boys  across  the  Connecticut 
River  at  Mount  Hermon,  and  a  summer  school  in  religion  at 
the  former  place,  which,  without  becoming  sectarian,  parti- 
san, scholastic,  or  narrowly  pietistic,  exerted  a  constantly 
widening  influence  by  transfusing  with  the  spirit  of  the  Glad 
Tidings  of  a  present  salvation  all  parties  and  all  churches  of 
the  Protestant  and  Evangelical  faith.  Such  a  character  and 
career  are  well  worth  the  careful  study  of  all  Christ's  followers  ; 
such  courageous  and  consecrated  faith  are  well  worth  their 
emulation. 

This  introduction  was  written  and  printed  before  Mr. 
Moody's  death  ;  had  it  been  delayed  till  after  that  death  I  might 
have  written  it  with  a  freer  pen.     But  perhaps  not.     At  all 


32  INTRUDL'CTIOX    BY    REV.     LYMAN    AHHOTT. 

events  I  shall  not  now  add  to  it  any  of  those  terms  of  eulogy 
which  would  have  been  so  distasteful  to  him,  —  is  it  not  more 
true  to  say  are  so  distasteful  to  hmi  ?  We  would  have  his  mem- 
ory as  he  would  have  his  life,  simply  a  tribute  to  Christ.  One 
of  the  most  ancient  creeds  of  the  universal  Church  declares  the 
sublimest  fact  in  human  history  in  a  very  simple  phrase :  "  I 
believe  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  who  for  us  men  and 
our  salvation  came  down  from  Heaven."  Mr.  Moody  believed 
that  as  he  believed  in  his  own  existence.  He  lived  that  he 
might  bear  witness  to  this  truth.  He  bore  that  witness  alike 
by  his  words  and  by  his  conduct.  He  was  the  last  of  that  school 
of  evangelists  in  which  his  predecessors  were  Whitefield,  Fin- 
ney, Nettleton.  His  methods  cannot  in  our  time  be  success- 
fully imitated  by  another.  But  so  long  as  the  Church  holds 
to  this  ancient  faith  in  a  divine  Helper  and  Saviour,  and  to  its 
right  to  pronounce  with  authority,  spiritual  not  ecclesiastical, 
the  absolution  and  remission  of  -sins,  so  long,  though  by  new 
voices  and  in  new  methods,  it  will  surprise  and  perplex  journal- 
ists, historians,  and  philosophers  by  the  power  of  the  (dad 
Tidings  of  Christ,  of  which  Dwight  L.  Moody  was  so  illustrious 
a  herald. 


-Tttt^TOK/ep 


EJwiGtrHfiffi 


e^HttWQ'RTv, 


'■%/   --^-V--.'^, 


Bv  RE\'.  CHARLES  F.  GOSS,  D.D., 

/'as/or  of  J/r.  J/uudr's  Chicago  Church  for  Five  Years. 


CHAPTER    I. 


Dwiglit  L.  Moody's  Birthplace  —  Death  of  His  Father  —  The 
Widowed  Mother  and  a  Heavily  Mortgaged  Farm  —  The  Little 
Red  Schoolhouse  —  An  Uncontrollable  Love  of  Mischief  —  In- 
cidents in  His  School  Days  —  How  His  Teacher  Conquered 
Him  —  A  Wanderer  at  Seventeen  —  His  Advent  into  Real  Life  in 
the  City  of  Boston — How  He  was  Converted  —  Decides  to  go  to 
Chicago  —  Finds  Work  at  Last  —  Running  Down  Country 
Merchants  on  the  Streets  —  Becomes  Identified  With  a  Church  — 
Rebuked  for  His  Rough  and  Ready  Speeches  —  Starting  a  Mission 
School  on  His  own  Responsibility  —  An  Outfit  of  Ragamuffins 
and  Street  Urchins  —  His  Sunday-school  Grows  to  i,ooo  Pupils  — 
Loses  his  Interest  in  Business  —  "I  am  working  for  Jesus 
Christ  "  —  No  Money,  but  Plenty  of  Friends. 


D  WIGHT  LYMAN  MOODY  was  born  in  NorthficUl 
Mass.,  on  February  7,  1837.  He  came  of  Puritan 
stock,  and  there  would  be  much  in  the  study  of  his 
ancestry  to  interest  the  behever  of  heredity.  But  it 
was  his  mother  who  alone  exerted  anv  demonstrable  influence 
tipon  his  character.  This  stern  and  resolute  woman  was  left 
a  widow  with  a  brood  of  growing  children  by  her  husband's 
death  in  1841.  Her  neighbors  advised  her  to  distribute  them 
among  her  friends;  but  she  planted  herself  firmly  on  the  slope 
of  a  rugged  New  England  hill  and  resolutely  decided  to  keep 
them  together.  The  farm  was  heavily  mortgaged  and  she 
was  excessively  poor,  but  nothing  could  shake  her  purpose  and 
3  (33) 


34 


LIFK    OF  DWIC.HT    L     MOODY. 


she  triumphed  nobly.  That  the  chilthen  liad  to  bear  their 
share  of  tlie  burdens  goes  witliout  saying,  and  Dwight  (Uttle 
fellow  that  he  was)  took  his  turn  with  the  others.  The  Con- 
necticut \'alley,  in  which  Xorthfield  is  located,  is  surpassingly 
beautiful,  and,  although  Mr.  Moody  seldom  indulged  in  de- 
scriptions of  scenery,  he  was  a  passionate  lover  of  nature, 
and  no  doubt  formed  this  taste  in  that  almost  paradisaical 
spot.  In  the  small  and  straggling  village  opportunities  for 
culture  were  rare.     There  was  a  Unitarian  church  which  his 


WHERE   IX    I..    M(JODV   WAS    HORN.     Tin'. 

NORrill'lI'.l.l),    M.XS.S. 


family  attended,  and  a  village  school  to  which  he  was  sent  a 
gocjd  deal  oftener  than  he  went !  Hear  him  descril^e  it !  "  In 
the  little  red  schoolhouse  which  stood  nearly  opposite  the 
house  where  I  lived  there  were  some  bad  boys  who  ran  things, 
and  I  was  one  of  the  worst.  We  had  a  man  teacher,  who  used 
the  rattan  on  us  a  good  deal,  and  took  us  by  the  ears  and  spun 
us  around  when  we  tried  to  do  as  we  pleased.  There  was  a 
great  deal  of  excitement  in  our  end  of  the  town  over  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  boys.  One  faction  said  that  love  would  do  for 
the   bovs   what   the   rattan   failed   to   do.     The   other    faction 


LIFK    OF    UWIGIIT    L.    .MOODY. 


35 


thoii,s:ht  that  the  rattan  was  the  only  proper  punishment. 
After  a  while  the  love  faction  ruled,  and  there  was  a  lady 
teacher  in  the  schoolhouse. 

"  'Sly,  but  didn't  we  think  we  were  going  to  make  things 
hum  !  So  I  said  to  the  other  boys,  '  Now  we  will  have  all  the 
fun  we  want !  '  Well,  the  first  one  to  be  punished  was  Dwight 
Moody.  I  was  told  to  stay  after  school.  I  told  the  boys  if 
she  tried  the  rattan  on  me  there  would  be  music.  What  do 
you  think  that  teacher  did?  She  sat  down  and  told  me  that 
she  loved  every  one  of  the  boys,  and  that  she  wasn't  going  to 
use  the  rattan  on  any  one  of  them.  If  she  couldn't  teach 
school  without  whipping  the  boys  she  would  resign.  She 
spoke  most  lovingly  and  wept  while  talking.  That  broke  me 
all  up.  I  would  rather  have  had  a  rattan  used  on  me  than  to 
see  her  cry.  I  said :  '  You  will  never  have  any  more  trouble 
with  me,  and  the  first  boy  that  makes  trouble,  I  will  settle  him.' 
That  woman  won  me  by  grace.  The  next  day  one  of  the  boys 
cut  up,  and  I  whacked  him.  I  whacked  him  so  much  that  the 
teacher  told  me  that  was  not  the  way  to  win  the  boys.  Do 
you  know  what  grace  means?  It  means  unmerited  mercy, 
undeserved  favor." 

Amidst  such,  influences  the  boy  developed  into  a  sturdy, 
restless,  eager,  impulsive  youth.  His  love  of  mischief  was  un- 
controllable, and  the  sides  of  old  neighbors  still  shake  at  the 
memory  of  his  pranks.  In  her  later  years  when  the  old  mother 
sat  in  quiet  comfort  in  the  home  which  her  son  had  made 
beautiful,  she  would  tell  with  that  sparkling  light  in  her  eye 
which  was  seen  almost  habitually  in  his,  how  he  put  squirrels 
into  the  dinner  pails  of  his  companions,  or  started  the  horses 
suddenly  when  some  farmhand  was  helplessly  drinking  from  a 
jug  upon  the  seat  of  the  wagon,  and  tumbled  him  over  into  its 
bed.  Humor  and  pathos,  life  and  death,  heaven  and  hell,  sun- 
shine and  shadow,  blended  themselves  into  a  tangled  web  in  his 
young  life.  Now  he  is  sent  away  from  home  to  work,  and  in 
a  fit  of  ungovernable  homesickness  is  given  a  penny  by  a  good 
old  man  whom  he  will  remember  to  his  dying  day  * ;  now  he 


*  Incident  relalfd  by  Mr.  Moody  on  page  iS6. 


36 


LIFK    OF    DWK.HT    L.     MOODV. 


meets  with  an  accident  in  which  he  escapes  death  by  prayer; 
now  a  farmhand  tells  him  a  thriHinj;;^  tale  of  his  early  refusal  of 
the  "  call  of  God  "  and  makes  him  tremble  with  the  sense  of 
sin  antl  personal  responsibility;  now  his  l)rollK'r  runs  awav 
from  home,  leavings  the  old  mother  to  weep  by  the  fireside,  and 
attain  comes  back  a  prodigal  and  seeks  her  pardon.* 

From  his  eloquent  lips  ag^ain  and  a.qain  all  over  the  world 
he  has  told  these  incidents  of  a  childhood  which  remained  as 
fresh  to  him  as  if  he  were  still  in  it.  until  the  whole  picture  can 
be  reconstructed  and  he  can  be  seen  movino^  noisily  and  rest- 
lessly among  these  simple  scenes,  drinking  in  the  abundant 
life  around  him  in  great  full  breaths  ;  healthy,  ardent,  living 
an  out-of-door  and  out-of-self  life,  eagerly  absorbing  but  not 
yet  digesting  the  experiences  through  which  he  passed. 

Soon  after  his  seventeenth  year  the  "  wander-lust  "  came 
upon  him,  and  out  he  went  into  the  wide  world,  ignorant,  but 
strong  and  fearless,  lie  made  his  first  grapple  with  real  life 
in  the  cit\-  of  TJoston.  lie  had  relatives  there,  but,  being  high 
strung  and  independent,  refused  to  seek  their  aid  until  driven 
to  it  by  a  stern  necessity.  It  did  him  good  to  humble  that 
proud  young  heart,  and  he  secured  a  ])lace  in  his  uncle's  store 
upon  three  conditions  :  He  was  to  board  at  a  place  selected  by 
his  uncle  ;  he  was  not  to  go  out  nights  ;  he  was  regularly  to  at- 
tend the  Mount  Xernon  Church  and  Sundav-school. 

lie  accepted  the  inevitable  (as  he  always  did)  and  phmged 
in.  The  strenuous  discipline  of  regular  labor  told  rapidly. 
Ihe  services  of  the  church  in  wliich  the  famous  Doctor  Kirk 
was  pastor  did  not  at  first  imj)ress  hun  nuicli  ;  but  at  length,  a 
Sunday-school  teacher  whose  heart  was  full  of  genuine  love  (a 
certain  Air.  Kimball)  placed  his  hand  upon  his  shoulder  and 
asked  liini  if  lu'  would  mil  "  give  his  heart  to  Christ."  This 
act  made  one  '>f  those  indelible  impressi(jns  upon  him  which 
any  appeal  to  his  heart  or  soul  alwaxs  left.  Tie  is  perhajis  to 
be  taken  literally  when  he  says  "  1  can  fi'el  the  toucli  of  that 
hand  upon  my  shoulder  yet."  'ihe  (piestion  aroused  a  dor- 
mant spiritual  nature. 

^'  Incident  related  by  Mr.   M<j<)ily  <iii  l>age  402. 


LIFIC    OF    DWKiHT    L.     MOODS' 


37 


It  is  doubtful  if  he  in  any  way  comprehended  the  emotions 
which  began  to  boil  up  from  his  deep  young  heart ;  but  they 
were  unmistakably  religious, 
and  he  sought  to  join  the 
church.  lie  was,  however,  so 
rough,  uncouth,  and  ignorant 
that  the  old  deacons  shook 
their  heads  and  put  him  on 
"  probation."  Many  years 
afterward,  with  that  eagle  eye 
of  his,  he  spied  one  of  these 
very  men  in  one  of  his  great 
meetings  in  England,  called 
him  to  the  platform,  and  intro- 
duced him  as  "  one  of  the  dea- 
cons who  did  not  think  he  was 
fit  to  come  into  the  church  !  '" 
It  was  one  of  the  innumera- 
ble dramatic  incidents  of  his 
life,  and  was  paralleled  by  an- 
other, when,  years  later,  he 
had  the  privilege  of  leading  the  son  of  his  former  Sunday- 
school  teacher  to  undertake  the  Christian  life. 

Boston  proved  but  a  cage  for  this  young  eagle,  and  he 
sighed  for  the  boundless  opportunities  of  the  "  West."  When 
he  was  nineteen  he  took  flight  and  alighted  in  Chicago.  It  was 
the  natural  habitat  for  a  spirit  striving  for  the  fullest  possible 
expression  of  itself. 

He  found  work  at  once,  and  took  his  place  in  that  proces- 
sion of  young  men  who  were  not  only  laying  the  foundations 
of  their  own  subsequent  enormous  fortunes,  but  building  a  city 
without  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  He  was  in  his 
element  at  last.  Here  was  boundless  room,  and  here  were  un- 
limited opportunities.  He  settled  down  to  his  work,  and  it 
soon  became  evident  that  he  had  a  great  future  of  some"  kind 
before  him.  Xo  obstacle  appalled  him  and  no  work  was  too 
hard  for  him.     If  customers  did  not  come  to  see  Jiiiii  he  went 


DWIGHT  L.  MOODY  .\S  HE  AP- 
PEARED WHEN  HE  REMOVED 
FROM  THE  FA^^LV  FARM  TO 
BOSTON. 

{From  a  phnloa;!  af>h.) 


38 


LIFE    OF    DWIC.IIT    L.    MOODY. 


out  to  find  thcni  in  the  highways  and  byways,  until  it  came  to 
be  a  proverb  as  he  w-as  seen  running  down  some  country  mer- 
chant in  the  streets,  '"  the  spider  is  after  the  flies  again." 

The  reHgious  emotions  kindled  in  his  young  soul  wore  still 
burning,  and  he  at  once  identified  himself  with  one  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches,  rented  five  pews,  and  undertook  to  keep 
them  filled  with  young  men. 

On  his  first  attempts  to  take  part  in  the  religious  services 
in  the  elegant  church  wath  which  he  had  united  he  had  been 
tartly  advised  that  his  rough  and  ready  speeches  were  objec- 
tionable. He  abandoned  them  without  resentment ;  but  there 
was  something  in  him  which  had  to  find  vent,  and  so  he  asked 
for  a  Sunday-school  class  in  a  little  mission  on  North  Wells 
Street,  and  was  told  that  he  could  have  it  if  he  would  go  out 
and  get  his  ow^n  scholars.  This  was  a  simple  task  for  a  young 
fellow  who  was  used  to  hunting  up  country  merchants  in  the 
streets,  and  he  appeared  next  Sunday  with  a  complete  outfit 
of  ragamuffins,  an  embryonic  Falstaffian  army. 

It  would  be  a  matter  of  the  most  profound  psychological  as 
well  as  spiritual  interest  to  be  able  to  penetrate  the  motives 
which  impelled  this  young  fellow,  boiling  with  animal  spirits, 
into  this  kind  of  endeavor.  It  is  easy  enough  to  solve  the 
problem  by  saying  that  it  was  "  love  for  souls."  No  doubt  it 
was,  at  the  bottom.  lUit  at  the  age  of  nineteen  or  twenty  a 
man's  ideas  of  life  are  strangely  mixed.  He  certainly  did  not 
have  any  clear  system  of  thought  about  the  great  spiritual 
problems  of  existence,  and  it  is  likely  that  what  seemed  to  him 
and  to  others  an  "  interest  in  souls  "  would  resolve  itself  upon 
analysis  into  a  passionate  love  of  human  beings  just  because 
they  were  human  like  himself.  His  heart  had  always  been 
sensitive  and  tender.  He  loved  all  living  things.  He  also 
had  the  instinct  of  helpfulness  to  a  very  high  degree.  It  was 
as  natural  for  him  to  run  to  the  assistance  of  any  one  in  trouble 
as  to  escape  from  personal  suffering.  That  he  had  acquired 
the  power  at  this  age  to  dififerentiatc  soul  from  body  as  an  ob- 
ject of  interest  and  devotion  in  any  such  way  as  the  phrase 
would  indicate  seems  extremely  doubtful.     Perhaps  he  did  not 


LIFE    OF    DWKiHT    L.    MOODY, 


39 


analyze  his  feelings  at  all.  In  fact,  a  careful  self-analysis  was 
unnatural  if  not  impossible  throughout  his  entire  life.  He 
lived  in  tlie  objective  rather  than  the  subjective  world.  He 
acted  upon  impulse  rather  than  reflection,  and  the  conception 
we  have  formed  of  those  first  endeavors  is  that  of  a  great  loving 
Newfoundland  dog  pulling  little  children  out  of  the  water  in 
a  blind  love  and  devotion.  Besides  this,  such  efforts  gratified, 
in  the  easiest  and  quickest  way,  that  innate  love  of  activity  and 
of  organization  which  amounted  in  him  to  a  passion.  In  the 
store  in  wiiich  he  was  only  a  subordinate,  or  in  churches  al- 
ready equipped  with  workers,  he  found  no  real  scope  for  his 
independent  talents.  In  this  little  mission  he  sought  an  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  along  his  own  lines.  And  so,  with  resistless 
energy  and  purpose,  he  threw  himself  into  the  activities  of  the 
place.  But  it  was  not  long  (either  because  he  ran  against 
snags  or  because  his  talents  were  still  too  much  confined)  be- 
fore he  branched  out  in  an  independent  effort  of  his  own.  He 
rented  the  "  North  Market  Hall  "  on  his  own  personal  respon- 
sibility, and  for  the  first  time  began  to  find  the  raw  material  of 
human  life  plastic  to  his  touch. 

There  now  followed  a  series  of  experiments  and  adventures 
which,  if  they  were  written  up  by  some  one  with  the  talent  for 
the  true  comprehension  of  such  phenomena,  would  make  read- 
ing as  fine  as  Don  Quixote  or  Rabelais.  They  are  still  in- 
crusted  with  the  rind  of  "  evangelicalism  "  or  (shall  we  say) 
"  cant  "  phraseology.  In  every  form  in  which  we  have  seen 
them  printed  they  all  have  the  Sunday-school  or  tract  flavor. 
But  the  fact  of  the  matter  is,  that  they  were  simply  elemental  in 
their  perfect  naturalness.  Possessing  as  real  a  genius  for  un- 
derstanding and  controlling  human  nature  as  did  Alexander 
or  Napoleon,  his  first  rude  endeavors  with  that  divine  material 
were  as  charming  as  those  of  the  young  INIozart  with  musical 
notes,  or  Praxiteles  with  clay.  He  brought  to  bear  upon  his 
task  a  wit  as  keen  as  Sydney  Smith's,  a  tact  as  divine  as  Fene- 
lon's,  a  devotion  as  undivided  as  St.  Paul's,  a  love  as  true  as  St. 
John's.  The  "  stuff  "  was  rude  and  he  was  rude  with  it  often ; 
but  generally  wise  and  always  kind.     At  twenty  years  of  age 


40 


LIFE    t)F    DWIC.MT    L.    MOODY. 


he  Struck  out  in  absolutely  original  lines  of  dealing  with  the 
little  heathen  whom  he  found  in  lanes  and  alleys.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  children  were  literally  swarming  at  his  heels. 
His  bare  appearance  was  the  signal  for  a  pell  mell  rush.  He 
had  no  trouble  in  getting  them  to  come  to  him,  but  only  to  find 
places  for  them  after  they  came.  Into  the  work  which  he 
undertook  he  impressed  other  people  as  violently  as  ever  the 
English  navy  did  !  He  caught  one  of  the  rising  men  of  the  cit\- 
(a  life-long  friend)  and  elected  him  superintendent  (iwlciis 
volens)  by  the  wild  acclamations  of  his  little  liowling  multitude. 
Everybody  that  came  had  to  teach  or  speak.  If  they  refused, 
he  pushed  them  forward  where  they  could  not  escape.  At 
first  the  crowd  was  a  disorganized  mob :  but  he  soon  drilled 
them  into  veterans.  Sometimes  he  bribed  them  with  maple 
sugar,  sometimes  by  telling  them  stories,  and,  when  it  became 
necessary,  he  thrashed  them !  Always  and  everywhere,  by  one 
means  or  another,  order  rose  out  of  chaos,  until  at  last,  at 
twenty-three  years  of  age,  he  had  built  up  a  Sunday-school  of 
more  than  one  thousand  pupils,  which  was  the  wonder  and 
astonishment  of  multitudes  of  curious  visitors.* 

The  soul  of  anyone  who  studies  this  period  carefully  be- 
comes absolutely  thirsty  for  a  fair  and  full  record  of  these  ad- 
ventures. He  ran  against  every  phase  of  human  experience  ; 
dragged  men  out  of  saloons  ;  captured  the  children  of  drunk- 
ards;  saved  men  from  crime;  brought  relief  to  the  poor  and  to 
the  sick,  and  sunk  his  plummet  down  into  the  depth  of  human 
misery.  In  those  six  years  of  unremittent  labor  in  this  Xorth 
Market  mission  he  came  to  know  what  human  nature  was  in 
its  naked  simplicity.  It  was  this  swift  disclosure  of  the  suffer- 
ing and  the  sin  of  human  life  that  developed  and  ripened  his 
intrinsic  love  for  mankind  into  what  can  be  called  by  no  other 
name  than  a  passion.  He  came  to  see  with  an  unclouded 
vision  that  man  was  capable  of  redemption  ;  that  he  was  the 
victim  of  circumstance  as  well  as  of  natiu'e  ;  that  he  needed 
human  help  as  well  as  divine.  With  a  concentration  that  must 
remain  forever  a  wonder,  he  fixed  his  attention  upon  the  higher 

*  Referred  to  by  Mr.  Muody  on  page  455. 


LIFE    OF    DVVIGHT    L.    MOODY.  ^I 

elements  of  manhood  and  womanhood  and  childhood.  He 
gradually  lost  his  interest  in  the  business  of  making  money  and 
became  absorbed  in  that  of  helping  out  into  a  larger  and  truer 
life  these  elementary  creatures  whom  he  saw  imprisoned  in 
the  shell  of  their  own  selfishness  and  brutality. 

This  enthusiasm  is  the  stumbling  block  of  the  average 
student  of  human  life.  He  regards  it  with  suspicion.  But 
why  should  it  be  any  more  strange  that  a  man  should  have  a 
passion  for  the  discovery  of  the  angelic  elements  in  human 
nature  than  that  he  should  have  a  passion  for  collecting  rare 
china  or  breeding  pouter  pigeons  ?  Whatever  has  been  said  or 
shall  be  said  as  to  the  genuineness  of  such  disinterested  de- 
votion in  the  heart  of  this  awkward,  uncultivated  youth,  there 
was  kindled  a  passion  for  the  spiritual  natures  of  men  that  for 
forty  years  burned  in  him  like  an  inextinguishable  fire. 

The  instrument  with  which  he  sought  to  accomplish  their 
redemption  was  the  English  Bible,  which,  it  must  be  confessed, 
he  read  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  There  were  no  "  Interna- 
tional Sunday-school  Lesson  Helps  "  in  those  days,  and  he 
fell  into  the  habit  of  opening  his  Bible  at  random  and  begin- 
ning a  rambling  discourse  without  head  or  tail  upon  the  sub- 
ject which  it  suggested  to  his  uneducated  mind  and  active  im- 
agination. But  there  were  a  few  great  central  ideas  which  he 
had  grasped  ;  which  he  held  with  the  tenacity  of  a  bull  dog,  and 
which  he  learned  to  illustrate  from  human  life  in  a  way  that 
made  them  tlame  and  glow  to  every  one  who  heard  them. 
They  were  such  conceptions  as  "  The  Love  of  God  for  Men ;  " 
"  God's  Love  Manifested  in  the  Life  of  Jesus ;  "  "  The  Rewards 
of  Good  Conduct  and  the  Punishment  of  Bad  ;  "  and  "  The  Pos- 
sibility of  Instant  Salvation  to  any  Sinner  who  should  accept 
of  the  death  of  Jesus  as  his  Atonement." 

With  these  great  truths  well  in  hand  he  set  to  work  to  save 
men,  and  he  succeeded.  That  old  mission  was  the  scene  of 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  reclamations  of  the  vicious  and 
depraved  that  any  place  on  the  globe  has  ever  witnessed.  It 
deserves  a  bronze  monument  far  more  than  many  battlefields. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  his  connection  with  the 


42  Lli-'K    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 

Voung  Men's  Christian  Association  began.  This  institution 
was  then  new.  and  at  once  awakened  his  interest.  Into  it  he 
plunged  with  his  accustomed  lieadlong  and  unreasoning  en- 
thusiasm. There  is  no  doubt  tliat  he  often  made  himself  a 
nuisance,  and  that  there  were  many  people  who  could  think  of 
nothing  but  a  bull  in  a  china  shop  when  they  saw  him  enter! 
He  upset  every  plan.  lie  cut  through  all  red  tape.  There 
never  lived  a  man  more  thoroughly  unconventional.  The 
opinions  of  other  people  had  no  weight  with  him  as  to  the  best 
way  of  doing  things.  Xo  matter  how  they  had  been  done  he 
would  have  a  try  and  see  if  there  was  not  a  better  way.  But 
while  he  tormented  the  navigators  in  easy  sailing,  as  soon  as 
the  weather  became  at  all  rough  they  were  glad  to  take  aboard 
this  sturd}-  pilot.  The  association  went  through  some  dark 
days  and  he  came  to  its  rescue.  He  took  the  noon  meetings 
in  hand,  and  llu'\'  Ix'gan  to  respond  to  his  charmed  touch. 
They  filled  and  then  they  overflowed,  and  finally  l)ecame  one 
of  the  features  of  W'estern  life.  Strangers  who  came  to  Chi- 
cago were  as  sure  to  go  and  see  the  Market  Street  mission  and 
the  association  as  strangers  in  New  York  to  see  the  Bowery. 

This  w^ork  and  his  growing  success  in  it  was  slowly  crystal- 
izing  a  resolution  that  had  been  long  in  a  state  of  solution.  It 
was  to  devote  his  entire  tiine  to  such  enterprises.*  Business 
had  lost  its  charm.  The  fascination  of  this  nol)ler  efTort  had 
enslaved  his  mind  and  heart.  He  had  saved  about  a  thousand 
dollars,  and  with  this  as  his  entire  capital  renounced  secular 
avocations  once  and  for  all.  This  was  in  i860.  Not  lotig 
after  this  step  had  been  taken,  his  old  employer  met  him  and 
asked  :  "  Moody,  what  are  you  doing  now?  "  "  I  am  working 
for  Jesus  Christ  "  —  and  there  has  not  been  a  day  nor  an  liour 
of  his  life  since  when  this  reply  would  not  have  truthfull)-  an- 
swered the  same  question.  His  thousand  dollars  soon  slipped 
through  his  ever  open  hand.  How  he  lived  afterwards  was  a 
mvsterv.  To  those  who  asked  him  and  who  blamed  him  for 
his  lack  of  worldly  wisdom,  he  always  answered,  "  I  am  wcjrk- 
ing  for  God  and  he  is  rich." 

♦Incident  related  by  Mr.  Moody  on  page  456. 


LIFE    OF    DWKJHT    L.  MOOUY. 


43 


This  is  another  fact  that  excites  the  increduhty  of  many 
who  hear  the  story  of  his  life.  But  there  is  no  ground  at  all 
for  skepticism.  For  more  than  forty  years  this  was  his  method 
of  subsistence.  He  never  had  any  business ;  he  never  had  any 
salary ;  he  never  had  any  guaranteed  income ;  he  used  all  the 
money  that  came  from  the  royalty  on  his  hymn  books  for  be- 
nevolence, and  yet  he  lived !  He  saved  no  money  to  speak  of, 
and  left  little  if  any  property  aside  from  his  home  and  a  life 
insurance ;  but  he  never  wanted,  and  passed  "  uncounted  thou- 
sands "  through  his  hands  to  innumerable  worthy  causes  and 
people.  This  is  an  exceptional  experience.  There  have  been 
other  such  ;  but  not  many.  It  could  not  be  made  the  law  of 
life,  for  someone  must  produce  the  wealth  which  supplies  the 
wants  of  these  exceptional  people.  But  it  is  certainly  not  im- 
probable that  such  people  should  be  found  in  a  life  so  com- 
plicated as  ours.  Their  time  and  strength  are  surely  needed 
for  the  higher  interests  of  existence.  There  is  no  insoluble 
mystery  in  such  an  experience  even  to  the  unreligious,  for 
those  who  do  not  believe  that  God  fed  him  as  He  did  Elijah, 
ought  to  know  that  such  men  will  never  be  permitted  to  starve  ; 
for  people  inevitably  love  them  and  trust  them  and  give  them 
money.  They  use  what  little  they  need  and  pass  the  rest 
alone;. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Opening  of  the  Civil  War  —  Mr.  Moody  Enters  into  New  Experi- 
ences—  An  Important  Epoch  of  His  Life  —  His  Work  as  Chap- 
lain in  the  Union  Army  —  Its  Effect  on  His  After  Life  —  Organiz- 
ing a  Church  of  His  Own  —  Raising  $20,000  to  Build  His  First 
Church  —  His  Helpers  and  Leaders  —  Sleeping  on  Benches  or  on 
the  Floor —  His  Groat  Capacity  for  Work  —  "  Getting  the  Hang  " 
of  Meetings  —  His  Inexhaustible  Fund  of  Anecdote  and  Story  — 
Captivating  Eastern  Audiences  —  Some  of  His  Amusing  Oral 
Blunders — His  Marriage  and  Home  Life — Scraping  the  Flour 
Barrel  at  the  Bottom  —  Getting  Hold  of  the  Bible  —  Discovers 
the  Value  of  Music  —  Meeting  Mr.  Sankey  for  the  First  Time  — 
The  Partnership  that  Followed  —  Plans  to  go  to  England  on  an 
Empty    Pocketbook  • —  The    Shadow    of    Coming   Events. 

WITH  the  opening  of  the  Civil  War,  the  expanding-  life 
of  tlie  young  apostle  of  helpfulness  entered  a  new 
realm  of  experience. 
Why  so  courageous,  patriotic,  and  enthusiastic  an 
American  did  not  become  a  soldier  is  not  easy  to  guess.  Per- 
haps he  felt  that  he  could  be  of  more  service  to  his  country  in 
attending  to  the  wants  of  those  who  were  in  the  line  of  battle. 
So  it  proved  at  least.  The  needs  of  the  soldier  boys,  temporal 
and  spiritual,  stirred  liis  compassionate  heart  to  its  dei)tlis.  and 
he  was  one  of  tlie  very  first  to  grasp  and  develop  the  scheme  of 
the  Christian  Conmiission.  Into  it  he  threw  his  whole  heart 
and  soul.  In  those  foiu-  b]nf)dy  years  the  good  he  did  and  the 
benefit  he  received  in  this  thrilling  experience  made  it  one  of 
the  most  important  epochs  of  his  life.  Young  as  he  was,  he 
had  already  attained  an  influence  which  made  his  judgment 
respected  by  men  his  sui)cri()rs  in  age  and  in  wisdom,  and 
brought  him  to  the  front  in  great  emergencies. 

(44) 


LIFE    OF    inVlGHT    L.     MOODY. 


45 


The  cficct  of  this  terrible  experience  upon  his  own  mind  can 
be  traced  through  all  the  rest  of  his  life  in  many  of  his  sermons 
and  addresses.  The  immense  activities  which  he  beheld,  the 
mighty  organization  of  the  army,  the  heroism  of  the  men  in 
battle,  their  patience  in  suffering,  their  gratitude  for  kindness, 
the  revelation  of  their  spiritual  natures  in  sickness  and  death, 
the  blood,  the  tears,  the  carnage,  the  awful  pomp  and  pageantry, 
lend  a  new  color,  deep,  somber,  solemn,  to  all  he  did  and  said. 

But  e.Kciting  and  attractive  as  this  work  was,  it  did  not 
wean  him  from  that  to  which  he  had  given  his  heart  in  Chicago. 

In  1863  (^vhen  he  was  twenty-six)  he  raised,  by  his  own  un- 
aided efforts.  $20,000  and  erected  on  Illinois  Street,  not  far 
from  the  Tslarket  Street  mission,  a  commodious  church  with 
tower  and  spire  for  his 
great  and  growing  Sabbath- 
school.  There  was  a  con- 
tinuous stream  of  converts 
to  the  life  which  he  held  up 
as  the  divine  ideal.  What 
to  do  with  them  became  a 
serious  question.  Because 
they  were  poor  and  ignorant 
they  did  not  fit  into  the 
menil)ership  of  neighboring 
churches.  He  was  therefore 
shut  up  to  the  necessity  of 
organizing-  a  church  of  his 
own.  The  problem  of  its 
ecclesiastical  n.ature  and  re- 
lationships, of  course,  arose. 
He  called  a  council  of  min- 
isters and  the  subject  was  debated  at  length,  but  the  rev- 
erend theologians  not  being  able  to  arrive  at  any  satisfactory 
conclusion  he  cut  the  knot  (he  has  cut  more  knots  than 
any  man  who  ever  lived)  and  organized  it  upon  an  absolutely 
independent  ])asis.  Into  its  development  as  a  settled,  inde- 
pendent, unordained,  free-lance  minister  (the  friend  of  every 


DWIOHT   L.  MOODY  AT  THE  AGE 

OF  26. 

{From  a  Photograph.) 


46 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    .MOODY. 


church  and  the  enemy  of  none)  he  now  plunged  with  all  his 
heart.  Such  bushwhacking  work  was  surely  never  done  on 
earth  before!  It  was  as  original  as  if  it  had  been  the  first  ever 
undertaken  !  But  it  went !  Everything  he  touched  did  !  He 
worked  into  it  every  kind  of  material  upon  which  he  could  lay 
his  hands,  as  birds  build  their  nests.  All  that  came  to  his  mill 
was  grist,  and  he  gathered  around  himself  a  band  of  helpers 
who  for  zeal  and  faithfulness  and  devotion  to  their  leader  might 
be  called  apostles.  The  love  between  them  and  their  leader  was 
romantic  and  worthy  of  the  noblest  souls.  They  did  any- 
thing and  everything  he  told  them  to.  If  the  work  called  for 
great  sacrifices  they  made  them.  If  it  needed  time  and  money 
they  gave  them.  If  they  had  to  stay  at  the  meeting-house  all 
night,  they  slept  on  benches  or  the  floor.  The  story  is  a  ro- 
mance. Laughter  and  fun  were  blended  (as  always)  in  this 
strange  life,  with  tears  and  solemn  earnestness.  Everything 
was  natural,  spontaneous,  unconventional,  heartborn.  His 
capacity  for  work  was  something  incredible,  and  must  be  dwelt 
upon  at  length  in  a  proper  ])lace.  He  never  seemed  capable 
of  exhaustion.  His  record  on  one  New  Year's  day  was  two 
hundred  calls,  during  many  of  which  he  dropped  upon  his 
knees  with  lightning-like  rapidity,  fired  a  prayer  to  heaven,  as 
a  hunter  would  shoot  a  gun  —  and  was  off ! 

A  fine  description  of  some  of  those  pastoral  visits  would 
have  been  as  good  a  subject  as  Kipling  ever  found  in  barrack 
or  jungle.  One  would  think  that  this  complicated  church 
would  have  taxed  all  his  energies;  but  while  all  this  was  going 
on  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation on  the  platform  "  that  the  only  way  to  get  a  buikling 
was  to  put  Moody  at  the  head  of  the  institution  !  "  This  was 
an  invariable  guarantee  of  success,  and  did  not  fail  this  time. 
He  accepted  (as  he  always  did),  ran,  talked,  begged,  com- 
manded, until  there  was  no  more  resisting  him  than  an  in- 
coming tide.  Everything  began  to  seethe  and  boil  under  the 
flames  of  fire  which  he  kindled,  and  sure  enough,  the  prophecy 
was  fulfilled.  The  first  Farwell  Hall  was  the  reward  of  his 
labor,  his  faith,  and  his  genius.     With  this  fine  j)lan  to  work 


LIFK    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY.  47 

in  he  began  to  push  the  spiritual  activities  of  the  place  with 
as  strong-  a  hand  as  the  material.  The  noon  meeting  was 
the  special  feature  and  became  almost  as  widely  known  as 
the  Fulton  Street  prayer-meeting.  In  interest  and  surprises 
it  probably  surpassed  anything  on  earth.  To  be  grabbed  on 
the  street  by  a  sturdy,  hustling  young  fellow,  pulled  into  the 
hall,  asked  right  in  the  meeting  "  whether  he  was  a  Christian, 
and  if  so  why  he  did  not  testify,"  became  an  experience  which 
men  expected  almost  as  much  as  to  be  solicited  for  alms  by 
beggars.  Everything  was  on  the  high  tide  and  humming  with 
life  when,  in  January,  1868,  the  building  (not  four  months  old) 
suddenly  disappeared  in  a  holocaust  of  fire.  This  was  noth- 
ing! The  coals  were  yet  burning  when  he  had  his  plans  laid 
for  its  successor !  The  way  the  Phoenix  rose  out  of  the  ashes 
was  nothing  to  the  way  that  new  hall  sprang  out  of  the  smolder- 
ing embers  of  the  old  one.  It  soon  became  a  place  of  more 
than  national  influence.  It  was  the  center  of  the  fjreat  re- 
ligious activities  of  the  city,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
everything  that  radiated  from  there  was  filled  with  the  spirit, 
if  it  did  not  take  the  direct  impress,  of  the  heart  life  of  this  im- 
passioned apostle  of  goodness.  And  still  he  was  "  spoiling  " 
for  work.  A  church  and  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion were  not  enough  to  consume  the  boiling  energies.  Even 
Chicago  was  not  big  enough  to  hold  him ! 

Another  sphere  gradually  opened  to  him,  in  which  he  re- 
ceived his  most  direct  training  for  that  work  which  he  was  to 
do  later  on.  Early  in  his  career  he  had  occasionally  been  called 
upon  to  attend  and  participate  in  Sunday-school  conventions 
held  for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  teachers  to  more  intelligent 
and  earnest  efforts.  It  did  not  take  him  long  "  to  get  the 
hang- "'  of  such  meetings,  and  he  soon  began  to  make  himself 
felt.  His  wide  experience,  his  inexhaustible  fund  of  anecdote, 
his  imperturbable  good  nature,  and  strange,  droll  humor,  but 
above  all,  the  spiritual  fervor  of  every  word  he  uttered,  soon 
gave  him  an  extraordinary  influence  at  every  such  occasion. 
It  did  not  take  him  long  to  become  well  known,  and  his  repu- 
tation   gradually    becanie    national    and    even    extended    into 


48 


LIFE    OF    DWIGIIT    L.    MOODY 


Canada.  He  was  sent  for  even  from  the  conservative  East, 
and  on  more  than  one  occasion  astonished  and  captivated  the 
jjeoplc  of  Philadelphia.  Boston,  and  New  York. 

The  charm  of  the  man  was  undoubtedly  in  his  absolute  sim- 
plicity. While  he  possessed  the  germs  of  a  constuumatc  art, 
there  was  not  the  trace  of  artificiality.  ITe  was  an  uneducated 
man,  and  made  no  attempt  to  conceal  it.  In  all  his  life  he  never 
posed.  When  he  made  his  blunders  —  and  they  were  legion  — 
he  laughed  with  those  who  laughed,  and  went  straight  forward. 
"  We  have  with  us  this  morning  a  young  man  who  is  studying 
in  a  theological  cemetery !  "  "  The  lady  who  is  going  to  speak 
to  you  now  will  tell  you  how  pickled  (speckled)  trout  are 
raised."  "  Love  John  Bull !  (in  a  Canadian  convention)  I 
guess  we  do!  Our  hearts  just  warm  to  her!  "  .Such  faux  pas 
were  too  frequent  occurrences  to  phase  him.  A  shrewd  ob- 
server said  of  him,  "  Aloody  is  impetuous  and  is  always  making 
blunders  ;  but  he  never  makes  the  same  mistake  twice." 

These  varied  experiences  did  for  him  what  his  future  re- 
quired. They  gave  him  familiarity  with  all  sorts  of  people  in 
all  sorts  of  places  and  in  all  sorts  of  conditions.  He  often 
found  them  uninterested  and  not  infre(iuently  hostile.  Some 
were  ignorant  and  others  too  wise.  He  learned  to  read  an 
audience,  as  some  people  learn  to  read  a  man.  There  is  a 
phvsiognomv  of  a  crowd,  and  he  became  an  expert  in  decipher- 
ing it.  To  put  himself  cii  rapport  with  it  soon  ])assed  from 
study  and  effort  to  second  nature  and  instinct.  He  acquired  a 
complete  knowledge  of  all  the  practical  difficulties  which  peo- 
ple encounter  in  their  individual  life  and  work,  through  his 
"  question  drawer  "  system.  There  is,  of  course,  a  limited 
ranp-e  of  such  difficulties  and  pndjlems,  and  after  a  man  has 
been  in  fifty  or  a  hundred  meetings  and  had  them  fired  at  him 
as  if  from  Catling  guns  he  has  become  familiar  with  the  whole 
gamut  and  cannot  be  taken  off  his  guard.  ]\'rhaps  no  man 
who  ever  lived  has  more  often  been  confronted  with  more  sud- 
den surprises.  What  he  said  and  did  was  continually  turning 
out  different  from  what  he  expected.  In  every  embarrassment 
he  doubled  and  turned  like  a  rald)it  in  the  chase.     The  com- 


LIFE    OP^    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


49 


plete  self-confidence  —  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  for  it  will 
be  shown  that  in  the  worst  sense  he  never  had  any  —  thus  ac- 
quired became  of  inestimable  value.  It  seems  certain  that  he 
never  really  felt  that  uneasy  and  fatal  consciousness  of  "  in- 
capacity "  which  destroys  for  many  men  the  very  possibility 
of  success. 

Such  experiences  as  these  perfected  that  equipment  which 
he  needed  in  the  practical  manag^ement  of  assemblies  of  men. 
In  the  meantime,  and  by  many  different  ways,  he  was  under- 
going a  similar  preparation  in  other  departments.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  blind  feeling  of  love  and  care  for  all  who 
suffered  and  were  in  trouble  had  gradually  undergone  an  enor- 
mous development,  and  that  he  had  l)y  this  time  become  fully 
conscious  of  that  spiritual  nature  in  man  which  has  excited  the 
interest  and  the  devotion  of  the  noblest  beings  who  have  ever 
lived.  It  had  grown  into  what  he  described  as  "  a  passion  for 
souls,"  and  to  see  anyone  anywhere  pass  through  that  tremen- 
dous change  in  which  the  soul  recognizes  itself  as  immortal 
and  accepts  God  and  eternity  as  its  real  good,  was  to  him  an 
experience  more  full  of  ccstacy  than  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
the  vem  of  a  mountain  or  love  in  the  heart  of  a  maiden.  No 
other  view  can  adequately  explain  the  ardor  and  passion  with 
which  he  devoted  himself  to  this  work  through  forty  years  of 
ceaseless  labor. 

The  peace  and  rest  which  such  a  nature  needed,  and  which 
can  only  be  found  in  a  perfectly  happy  home,  also  came  to  him. 

On  the  28th  of  August,  1862,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Emma  C.  Revell.  If  ever  a  love  was  deeper,  if  ever  a  happi- 
ness more  complete,  than  that  of  these  two  lifelong  lovers,  it 
nmst  have  been  somewhere  when  the  world  slipped  a  cog  and 
earth  touched  heaven !  Children  came  to  bless  the  union,  and 
that  prodigal  love  which  he  had  lavished  upon  the  ragged 
gamins  of  the  street  was  now  evoked  by  little  children  who 
called  him  "  father."  The  home  which  the  lovers  established 
was  one  of  simplicity  and  hospitality.  The  latch-string  was 
always  out !  The  story  of  that  domestic  economy  is  both  an 
idvl  and  a  psalm.     Tlie  friends  of  the  man  and  his  work  made 

4 


50 


LIFE    OF    DWIC.HT    L.    IMOODV. 


him  a  present  of  the  house  he  lived  in,  and  "  the  ravens  fed 
them."  It  would  be  easy  enough  to  present  a  grave  religious 
picture  of  these  two  parents  solemnly  and  devoutly  waiting- 
upon  God  in  prayer  for  llicir  daily  bread,  and  going  about  their 
labors  in  a  saintlike  frame  of  mind.  It  would  be  a  true  picture, 
but  only  a  partial  one,  for  to  those  who  knew  them  best  that 
air  of  solenm  and  august  piety  was  missing.  They  were  more 
like  birds  who  started  out  in  the  morning  with  perfect  confi- 
dence in  their  ability  to  find  their  food  and  a  complete  abandon 
to  the  joy  of  work  and  song.  Their  lives  were  probably  as 
full  of  bounding  ha])piness  as  those  of  their  children.  The 
truth  of  the  matter  is  that  the  bread  and  butter  problem  never 
puzzled  Mr.  Moody  as  it  does  the  rest  of  us.  He  took  it  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  the  Master  for  whom  he  labored  would 
provide  the  sustenance  of  the  toiler.  Although  the  flour 
barrel  often  had  to  be  scraped  at  the  bottom,  he  never  gave 
himself  any  care.  His  confidence  was  never  betrayed,  and  he 
grew  so  accustomed  to  opening  letters  and  finding  checks  in 
them,  or  having  money  handed  to  him  on  the  street,  that  it  was 
as  natural  as  drawing  his  salary ! 

It  was  during  this  same  period  that  the  final  touch  was 
given  to  the  ecjuipment  which  he  needed  for  the  great  mission 
of  his  life.  He  had  been  so  full  of  other  work  that  he  had  never 
had  time  to  give  to  the  prei)aration  of  his  addresses.  Those 
which  he  did  not  "  shake  out  of  his  sleeves  "  were  forged  upon 
platforms  and  in  pulpits.  His  knowledge  of  the  English  Bible 
was  painfully  incomplete,  and  no  man  ever  Iiad  to  work  with  a 
more  meager  kit  of  tools,  lint  there  came  to  Chicago  one 
fortunate  day  a  young  evangelist  l)y  the  name  of  Rev.  Harry 
Morehouse,  who  perha])s  did  more  for  him  than  any  other  per- 
son who  ever  touched  his  life.*  He  delivered  seven  sermons  in 
Mr.  Moody's  church  on  "  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  Mr.  Moody  was  away 
at  the  time ;  but  when  he  returned  he  learned  about  these  ser- 
mons and  came  under  the  spell  of  that  very  gentle,  beautiful. 


*  Incident  related  by  Mr.  Moody  on  page  460. 


LIFK    OF    I)\VU;iIT    L.    MOODY. 


51 


holy,  and  learned  student  of  the  English  Bible.  Morehouse 
told  him  frankly  that  he  needed  a  better  knowledge  of  that 
Bible  to  enable  him  to  win  souls.  And,  what  was  more  and 
better,  he  gave  him  the  very  method  by  which  alone  he  could 
have  in  any  way  made  up  for  the  deficiencies  of  the  past.  It 
was  the  method  of  the  "  Bible  reading."  He  taught  him  how 
to  use  the  Concordance  to  advantage  and  how  to  weave  to- 
gether in  a  single  discourse  many  different  texts  which  bore 
upon  the  same  theme.  This  was  perfectly  simple,  compre- 
hensible, and  possible.  With  his  accustomed  insight,  Mr. 
Moody  saw  that  here  was  the  very  thing  he  needed,  and  he 
did  not  lose  a  moment  in  putting  it  into  practice.  He  never 
wasted  three  seconds  in  anything  he  could  not  do ;  but  what 
he  could  do  was  worth  all  the  work  it  cost.  The  method  was 
perhaps  an  imperfect  one  for  the  most  perfect  comprehension 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  as  well  calculated  to  lead  an  abnormal 
mind  astray,  as  to  lead  a  normal  mind  aright.  In  fact  it  has 
been  responsible  for  the  collapse  of  many  an  eccentric  though 
devout  soul.  But  with  his  strange  prescience,  or  through  the 
divine  providence  (or  both),  he  escaped,  as  he  always  did,  the 
evils  of  any  course  he  adopted. 

His  mind  had  never  been  trained  to  logical  reasoning  or 
scholarly  methods,  and,  in  fact,  was  perhaps  incapable  of  pro- 
ceeding in  that  manner  to  the  discovery  of  truth.  It  was  so 
constituted  that  it  gathered  its  conclusions  from  multiplied 
impressions  of  many  sorts,  as  a  bee  gathers  the  sweets  of 
flowers  and  turns  them  into  honey.  And  so  where  other  and 
eccentric  minds  used  this  method  to  find  quotations  which  sub- 
stantiated their  vagaries,  he  used  it  to  discover  those  which 
supported  the  few  great  central  conceptions  which  were  the 
entire  stock  with  which  he  did  his  great  business.  The  result, 
therefore,  of  his  patient,  ceaseless,  heroic  struggles  to  master 
the  sacred  Scriptures  was  that  he  accumulated  a  vast  fund  of 
texts  and  stories  to  illustrate  the  truths  which  he  wished  to 
hanmier  into  the  minds  of  men.  His  Bible  got  to  be  at  last 
(that  portion  of  it  which  he  needed)  at  his  very  finger  tips.  He 
never  fell  down  on  his  method.     He  gave  it  finallv  an  enor- 


52 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


mous  vogue,  and  wliilc  the  crowds  of  his  servile  imitators 
made  themselves  and  the  15ook  ridiculous,  he  used  it  to  delight 
and  instruct  millions.  In  addition  to  the  newness  of  the 
method  was  the  marvelous  freshness  which  his  own  simple 
and  childlike  apprehension  gave  it.  Owing  to  the  natural  con- 
stitution of  his  mind,  the  words  of  the  Scriptures  took  posses- 
sion of  his  faculties  in  the  same  vivid  way  that  they  do  those 
of  a  child.  No  one  familiar  with  his  utterances  can  doubt  that 
he  had  an  imagination  of  a  very  high  order.  Had  it  been 
trained  to  poetical  expression  it  could  have  produced  forms  of 
great  literary  beauty.  Before  this  ])(nverful  faculty  the  heroes 
of  Scripture  really  lived  and  its  truths  absolutely  gU)wed. 
Faith  is  only  a  spiritualized  imagination,  and  his  imagination 
was  spiritualized  as  truly  as  that  of  a  great  inventor  is  ma- 
terialized. Most  ministers  and  students  of  the  Bible  confess 
that  it  requires  their  strongest  efforts  to  give  reality  and  vitality 
to  the  facts  recounted  in  the  sacred  oracles.  Their  minds  have 
become  suspicious  by  investigating  all  the  evidences  for  and 
against  the  supernatural  elements  of  the  Bible.  Their  hold 
upon  them  is  the  result  of  effort.  With  Mr.  Moody  it  was 
different.  No  question  of  their  reality  ever  for  a  moment 
troubled  him.  They  were  as  real  as  if  he  had  seen  them  with 
his  own  eyes.  Every  one  who  heard  him  speak  felt  this,  al- 
though perhaps  they  were  not  always  conscious  of  it.  and  this 
vivid  apprehension  of  the  facts  of  Scripture  was  the  greatest 
source  of  his  pulpit  power. 

All  his  natural  gifts  had  now  undergone  a  liigh  develop- 
ment. The  consciousness  of  them  had  been  pretty  clearly 
unfolded  to  himself.  The  wings  were  nearly  grown  and  the 
eagle  began  to  plume  them  for  a  wider  flight. 

One  thing,  however,  was  still  lacking,  lie  had  discovered 
the  value  of  music  in  kindling  the  emotions  of  men  and  putting 
them  in  a  receptive  state  for  his  inlluence.  The  fact  that  he 
realized  the  importance  of  this  is  another  evidence  of  the  range 
of  his  powers,  for  he  had  al)sohUely  no  knowledge  of  music 
and  could  not  even  sing  a  note.  Just  what  pleasure  singing 
gave  him  personally  is  an  unsolved  problem,  and  perhaps  in- 


LIFE    OF    DWICiIIT    L.    MOODY.  r-y 

soluble.  It  has  sometimes  seemed  to  those  who  observed  him 
carefully  that  his  pleasure  was  an  indirect  one,  and  came  from 
seeing  its  influence  upon  others.  At  any  rate  he  discovered 
what  it  could  do  at  public  gatherings,  and  he  early  began  to 
grope  around  for  some  way  in  which  it  could  be  made  to  sub- 
serve his  own  particular  needs.  It  was  a  remarkable  coinci- 
dence (let  us  rather  call  it  Providence)  that  just  at  this  time 
there  appeared  a  class  of  men  working  along  the  very  lines 
which  he  was  blindly  following.  The  pioneers  were  Philip 
Phillips  and  P.  P.  Bliss,  whose  aim  was  not  to  sing  hymns,  but 
the  "  Gospel."  At  one  of  his  conventions  Mr.  Moody  heard 
one  of  their  youngest  disciples.  He  recognized  instantly  that 
he  had  found  what  he  wanted.  The  story  of  his  discovery  and 
capture  of  his  life-long  friend  and  companion,  Ira  D.  Sankey, 
is  not  only  striking  in  itself,  but  typical  of  those  innumerable 
experiences  in  which,  without  the  slightest  hesitation,  he  in- 
stantly summoned  men  to  assume  grave  responsibilities  with 
no  other  knowledge  of  their  fitness  than  his  own  unaided  in- 
tuitions, the  confidence  which  he  reposed  in  these  intuitions 
being  as  uncjucstioning,  apparently,  as  that  of  an  animal  in  its 
instincts. 

It  was  at  a  convention  held  in  Indianapolis  in  June,  1871, 
that  Mr.  Moody  for  the  first  time  heard  the  voice  of  the  young 
Pennsylvanian.  Mr.  Sankey  was  thirty-one  years  of  age. 
healthy,  happy,  earnest,  and  full  of  music.  The  singing  had 
been  dull  until  he  stepped  forward  to  lead  it.  Something  in 
him  fitted  the  need  of  the  moment.  The  hymns  rolled  out 
sweet  and  strong.  The  whole  audience  was  moved  ;  but  one 
of  them  was  enraptured. 

"Where  do  you  live?"  asked  Mr.  Moody  bluntly. 

'  In  Newcastle,  Pennsylvania." 

'*  Are  you  married  ?  "' 

"  Yes." 

"  How  many  children  have  you  ?  " 

'  One." 

"  I  want  you." 

"  What  for?" 


54 


LIFK    OF    I>\VI(;HT    L.    MOODY. 


"  To  help  nic  in  niy  work  at  C'hicae^o." 

"  I  cannot  leave  my  business." 

"  You  must.  1  have  been  looking  for  you  for  the  last  eight 
vears.  You  must  give  up  your  business  and  cDuie  with  me  to 
Chicago." 

"  \\'ell.  I  will  think  of  it.  1  will  i)ray  over  it.  I  will  talk 
to  mv  wife." 


IRA  D.  SANKEY,  MR.  MOODY'S  ^■OKE-FF.LLO\V,  ACE  35. 
[Fiovi  a  I'holoffraph.) 


He  did  so  and  accei)te(l  his  call.  This  followed  almost  as  a 
matter  of  course,  for,  speaking  calmly  and  witlnnit  exaggera- 
tion, it  would  be  hard  to  find  an  instance  in  which  this  strange 
being  thus  laid  his  hands  upon  any  one  who  did  not  instantly 
rise  up  and  follow  him  in  much  the  same  way  as  did  those 
whom  Jesus  called  —  his  power  to  command  the  services  of 
men  absolutely  being  something  that  of  itself  alone  would  have 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L      MOODY 


55 


made  him  a  man  whose  influence  bordered  upon  the  mysteri- 
ous and  even  inscrutable. 

These  two  companions  (true  yoke-fellows)  worked  together 
in  Chicago  for  several  months,  and  when  Mr.  Moody  made  his 
first  trip  to  Europe  he  left  Mr  Sankey  in  charge  of  his  church. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  he  began  to  make  a  scrapbook  of 
hymns  suited  to  their  needs,  and  this  little  scrapbook  was  the 
nucleus  of  the  "  Gospel  Hymns  " —  one  of  the  most  famous 
publications  in  literature  or  music. 

This  new  partnership  was  only  a  few  months  old  when  an 
event  ha])pened  which  startled  the  civilized  world.  The  great 
conflagration  of  1871  destroyed  Mr  Moody's  home  and 
church.'''  "  Have  you  lost  everything?  "  asked  a  friend. 
"  Everything  but  my  reputation  and  my  Bible,"  he  replied. 

Terrible  as  was  the  loss  and  great  as  was  the  catastrophe, 
the  unconquerable  hero  set  to  work  about  its  reparation  as 
energetically  as  after  the  destruction  of  Farwell  Hall.  He 
rushed  oil  East  and  began  a  campaign  of  begging  which  was  a 
supreme  work  of  genius,  sending  the  ])roceeds  back  and  tele- 
graphing his  friends  to  "  build  large,"  a  motto  that  might  be 
chosen  by  him  as  the  best  expression  of  his  life  purpose  and  a 
suitable  inscription  for  his  tomb.  They  obeyed  him  and 
erected  a  rough  building  measuring  seventy-five  by  one  hun- 
dred anil  nine  feet,  and  good  enough  to  answer  their  purpose 
until  he  could  raise  funds  enough  for  the  great  permanent 
structure  which  he  afterwards  built  at  the  corner  of  Chicago 
and  LaSalle  Avenues. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  there  ripened  in  the  mind  of 
Mr.  Moody  a  purpose  which  had  probably  been  long  unfolding. 
It  was  to  go  to  England  upon  an  evangelizing  tour.  He  Uad 
already  been  in  England  twice,  —  both  times  upon  religious 
errands  —  conventions,  conferences,  etc. 

That  first  trip  will  be  long  remembered  for  the  incredible 
manner  in  which  it  was  undertaken.  He  set  the  day  for  his 
departure ;  but  did  not  have  a  cent  with  which  to  pay  his  ex- 
penses.    However,  this  did  not  seem  to  disturb  him  in  the 


*  Incident  related  by  Mr.  Moody  on  page  377. 


56  LIFE    OF    DWKiirr    L     MOOUY. 

least,  for  he  went  on  with  his  preparations  as  if  he  had  milHons 
:n  a  vauh.  There  were  still  but  a  few  hours  left  before  the  de- 
parture of  the  train,  and  yet  the  funds  were  not  in  sight.  The 
trunks  were  packed  and  his  family  wailing-.  It  was  about  time 
for  some  one  to  turn  up  with  the  money,  one  would  think  ! 
And  sure  enough  he  did  !  A  friend  who  thought  that  he  would 
need  some  "  after  Jic  reached  luiglaiid,"  handed  him  five  hun- 
dred dollars !  There  have  been  too  many  such  strange  events 
m  his  life  to  make  it  easy  to  call  them  mere  coincidences. 

During  these  journeys  he  had  made  many  friends,  some  of 
whom  had  proposed  that  he  should  come  over  to  England  for 
the  purpose  of  holding  a  series  of  conventions,  and  he  now  de- 
termined to  accept  —  proposing  to  Mr.  Sankey  that  he  should 
be  his  companion.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  determina- 
tion to  take  this  step  was  attended  by  mental  emotions  of  a 
peculiar  character.  If  "  coming  events  ever  do  cast  their 
shadows  before,"  some  vague  conception  of  what  he  was  to  do 
must  have  agitated  him  unusually.  He  passed  through  the 
only  recorded  period  of  profound  spiritual  disturbance  in  his 
whole  life.  "  It  seemed  as  if  the  Lord  was  taking  him  to 
pieces,"  he  said.  It  resulted  in  a  more  complete  consecration, 
and  a  full-born  desire  to  "  go  round  the  world  and  tell  perish- 
ing millions  of  a  Saviour's  love,"  and  the  hope  of  "  winning 
10,000  souls  for  Christ  in  Great  Britain." 


CHAPTER    III. 

Mr.  Moody  and  Mr.  Sankey  Sail  for  England  —  Their  Arrival  in  Liver- 
pool —  The  Sorrowful  News  that  Greeted  Them  —  A  Discouraging 
Outlook  —  "I  Will  be  There  to-night"  —  The  First  of  the  Re- 
markable Meetings  in  Great  Britain  —  .A.n  Audience  of  Eight  Per- 
sons —  How  Interest  in  the  JNIeetings  Grew  —  Disagreeable  Critics 
and  Ministerial  Sharpshooters  —  Taking  Scotland  By  Storm  —  Mr. 
Sankey's  "  Kist  fu'  o'  Whustles "  —  The  Excitement  Spreads 
Among  All  Classes  —  Remarkable  Scenes  —  Sw^eeping  through 
Scotland  and  Ireland  —  The  Evangelists  Arrive  in  London  —  Mr. 
Moody  Questioned  by  a  Conference  of  Ministers  —  The  Wit, 
Shrewdness,  and  Candor  of  His  Replies  —  The  Most  Wonderful 
Meetings  Ever  Held  in  London  —  Personal  E.xpcriences  —  Dining 
With  Mr.  Gladstone  —  Premonition  of  Sudden  Death  —  Followed 
by  an  Assassin  —  Arrest  of  the  Would-be  Murderer  —  Using  up 
the  "  Best  ]\linistcr  in   Scotland  "  —  Farewell  to   London. 

OX  the  7th  of  June,  1872,  the  two  companions  sailed 
from  New  York  and  landed  at  Southampton  seven 
days  later. 
The  experiences  upon  which  they  entered  may  well 
be  regarded  as  among  the  most  remarkable  which  have 
ever  befallen  men,  and  as  they  are  to  be  understood  only  with 
a  full  knowledge  of  the  difficulties  which  they  had  to  surmount 
and  the  extraordinary  results  they  accomplished,  we  shall  be 
justified  in  setting  before  ourselves  a  clear  conception  of  the 
exact  state  of  affairs  which  they  confronted. 

Here,  then,  were  two  young  men  thirty-three  and  thirty-five 
years  respectively  —  comparatively  unknown  in  the  country 
upon  whose  shores  they  had  set  their  feet.  A  few  earnestly  re- 
ligious spirits  in  Great  Britain  had  heard  of  the  rough  bush- 
whacking work  which  they  were  doing  and  had  extended  them 
an  informal  invitation  to  undertake  their  present  mission.  The 
customs  of  the  country  were  almost  as  much  unknown  to  the 

(57) 


58 


LIKE    OF    UWKiHT    L.    MOODY. 


^  oung  adventurers  as  they  to  the  country.  They  were  used 
lu  handhng  audiences  in  their  native  land ;  but  so  great  are  the 
dilYerences  of  national  custom  that  this  was  more  likely  to 
])rove  an  obstacle  than  an  advantage.  The  peopl-e  among 
whom  they  were  about  to  begin  their  labors  were  less  inflam- 
mable, and  more  conservative,  tiian  those  to  whom  they  had 
been  accustomed.  An  established  church  was  entrenched  in  all 
the  glory,  opulence,  and  (without  disparagement  be  it  said) 
pride  of  its  antiquity  and  its  power. 

Against  such  odds  as  these  the  two  resolute  youths  sternly 
set  their  faces  to  make  an  impression  upon  this  rigid  and  un- 
responsive life.  They  had  come  for  large  game.  It  was  their 
purpose  to  excite  a  wave  and  not  a  ripple  of  religious  feeling. 
That  they  succeeded  is  now  a  matter  of  history,  and  of  great 
history,  too,  for  it  has  been  said  by  competent  judges  that 
Great  Piritain  is  not  the  same  that  it  would  have  been  without 
the  effect  of  this  campaign.  There  are  those  whose  minds  are 
so  constituted  (and  they  are  tmdouljtcdly  the  vast  maj(jrity) 
who  can  be  interested  only  or  chieH}-  in  those  conflicts  of  op- 
posing forces  which  involve  the  outlay  of  brute  strength.  The 
shock  of  hostile  armies,  the  death  grapple  of  great  military 
machines,  the  rout  of  panoplied  battalions  by  strength  or 
strategy,  they  can  comprehend  and  enjoy.  But  there  are  now 
and  then  a  few  elect  s]:)irits  wlio  can  ])erceive  the  fascination  of 
struggles  of  a  different  cliaractcr  —  those  in  which  invisible, 
spiritual  forces  contend  on  bloodless  fields.  1"o  them  the 
struggle  which  now  begins  will  have  a  higher  and  more  en- 
during fascination.  It  is  the  battle  of  life  against  death  ;  of 
two  young  men  from  a  new  wcM'ld  battling  with  the  hoary  cus- 
toms and  prejudices  of  the  ])ast.  To  see  a  ready  and  pun- 
gent wit ;  a  sweet  and  serene  temper ;  an  adroit  and  invincible 
courage ;  a  homely  but  sublime  eloquence ;  simple  but  sweet 
songs;  a  religious  zeal  pure,  noble,  consuming — disarm  pre- 
judice, conquer  bigotry,  paralyze  opposition,  turn  curiosity 
into  admiration,  lead  captivity  caj^tive,  spoil  principalities  and 
powers,  and  do  it  swiftly,  imerringly.  ami  gloriously  —  this 
they  think  a  more  edifying  and  thrilling  spectacle  than  the 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L     MUODV. 


59 


mere  struggles  of  men  turned  into  wild  beasts  and  armed  with 
deadly  weapons. 

W  lien  the  daring  companions  arrived  in  Liverpool  on  the 
17th  of  June  they  learned  to  their  sorrow  that  two  of  the  most 
influential  of  the  gentlemen  by  whom  ^Nlr.  Moody  had  been 
invited  to  England  had  died.  This  made  it  impossible  for  him 
to  begin  where  he  had  intended ;  but  he  had  a  third  invitation 
from  Air.  George  Bennet  of  York,  the  secretary  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association.  He  telegraphed  a  notice  of  his 
arrival  and  asked  when  he  should  begin  his  work.  The  answer 
was  to  the  efi'ect  that  such  was  the  religious  indifference  in 
York  that  it  would  take  at  least  a  month  to  get  the  town  ready 
for  his  efforts  !  In  reply  to  this  not  very  encouraging  response 
Mr.  Moody  telegraphed  "  I  will  be  there  to-night."  He  was ! 
And  after  looking  the  situation  over  (it  would  certainly  not 
have  made  any  difference  what  condition  he  discovered)  he 
decided  "  to  go  in  at  once !  " 

The  first  of  that  series  of  remarkable  meetings  which  were 
destined  to  shake  Great  Britain  was  held  in  a  little  room  in  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building,  and  there  were 
eight  persons  present !  The  congregations  increased,  but 
-slowly  and  through  the  most  herculean  efforts  of  those  inter- 
ested. The  first  week,  judged  by  those  crude  standards  of 
success  which  men  of  a  different  caliber  are  accustomed  to 
apply,  were  a  lamentable  failure.  But  these  invincible  war- 
riors kept  right  on,  and  at  the  end  of  a  month  two  hundred  and 
fifty  people  had  professed  conversion  and  many  church  mem- 
bers had  been  quickened  in  their  spiritual  life. 

From  York  they  proceeded  to  Sunderland,  where  they  be- 
gan against  such  odds  that  it  was  humorously  said  by  an  ob- 
server that  "  Mr.  Moody  had  one  whole  minister,  three-fourths 
of  another,  and  nothing  or  next  to  nothing  of  all  the  rest  to 
help  h.im."  Things  moved  even  harder  here  than  in  York,  for 
he  not  only  encountered  indifference,  but  opposition.  The 
preacher  was  certainly  a  good  target  for  anyone  who  wanted 
practice  !  He  was  not  an  ordained  minister.  He  used  strange 
and  unusual  methods.     His  theology  was  crude.     Ministerial 


5o  I.IFK    OF    DWHiHT    L.     MOODV. 

sharpshooters  filled  him  full  of  holes  ;  l)ut  they  could  not  stop 
his  fighting,  and  victory  came  at  last. 

From  Sunderland  they  went  to  Newcastle.  Their  fighting 
i)lood  was  now  up.  Those  who  wish  to  see  the  story  of  this 
great  campaign  told  in  the  strictest  religious  phraseology  may 
object  to  such  expression  ;  but  anyone  who  knew  the  man  will 
see  that  only  military  metaphors  will  do !  The  same  feelings 
which  flamed  in  the  bosoms  of  Oliver  Cromwell  and  Sir  Henry 
Havelock  were  burning  in  the  heart  of  this  resistless  and  terri- 
ble fighter  —  to  his  honor  be  it  said!  He  had  a  w'ork  to  do 
which  had  to  be  done  and  he  was  going  to  do  it !  Like  those 
great  heroes  in  every  field  of  human  struggle  and  endeavor,  he 
relied  on  the  arm  of  the  Almighty  ;  but  he  also  made  bare 
his  oii'ii! 

"  We  have  not  done  much  in  York  and  Sunderland,"  said 
he,  '■  because  the  ministers  were  opposed  to  us ;  but  we  are 
going  to  stay  in  Newcastle  till  we  make  an  impression  and  live 
down  the  prejudices  of  good  people  who  do  not  understand 
us."  In  other  words,  "  we  are  going  to  fight  it  out  on  this 
line  if  it  takes  all  sunnner!  "     The  great  warriors  are  all  alike. 

They  stayed  and  they  conquered.  People  began  to  see  of 
what  stuff  they  were  made  and  what  they  were  driving  at.  A 
perfect  furor  sprang  up  around  them.  The  potent  spell  of 
genius,  character,  consecration,  wit.  sweetness,  love,  had  be- 
gun to  work.  Multitudes  thronged  from  every  point  of  the 
compass  to  see  this  strange  spectacle.  People  of  influence  and 
power  began  to  array  themselves  on  the  side  of  the  two  men 
who  were  its  germinating  causes.  Committees  waited  upon 
them  from  many  places,  and  besought  them  to  visit  many 
cities.  They  passed  triumphantly  through  Carlisle,  Bishop, 
Auckland,  Darlington,  Shields,  and  other  places,  and  finally, 
on  the  2 1  St  of  November,  1873,  arrived  in  Edinburgh,  wdiere 
great  preparations  had  been  made  for  tlieir  coming.  This 
was  manifestly  their  Waterloo  —  to  enter  and  to  face  this 
metropolis  of  wealth,  of  learning,  of  power,  and  influence.  The 
scene  reminds  one  of  that  in  which  the  yVyrshire  plowman  a 
half  centurv  before  had  made  the  same  bold  venture  among  the 


lifp:  of  dwight  l.  moody.  5i 

lions.  Some  of  the  greatest  preachers  in  tlie  world  had  there 
set  up  a  standard  by  which  he  must  be  compared.  The  com- 
mon people  were  trained  to  theological  discussions  and  were 
experts  in  all  the  questions  of  the  Law  and  the  Gospels.  Preju- 
dices were  deeply  entrenched,  especially  against  informality 
and  the  irreverence  of  Mr.  Sankey's  "  kist  fu'  o'  whustles." 

But  the  two  plain  men  were  now  profoundly  convinced  that 
they  were  merely  the  instruments  of  a  divine  power  and  that 
they  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  keep  humble  and  be  used.  Thcv 
therefore  plunged  into  their  herculean  task  without  fear. 
From  the  very  first  it  became  evident  that  the  most  extraor- 
dinary upheaval  of  modern  times  had  begun.  The  city  may 
be  said  to  have  rocked  with  it.  Ever}-  circle  of  life  was  agi- 
tated. Dr.  P)Onar  declared  at  its  close  that  there  was  scarcely 
a  house  in  the  metropolis  in  which  one  or  more  had  not  been 
won  over  to  a  new  life.  Society,  business,  politics,  were  all 
affected.  Great  waves  of  influence  emanating  from  this  center 
swept  through  the  whole  of  Scotland.  The  very  material  ele- 
ments of  civilization  felt  the  tumult,  and  the  students  of  human 
life  were  confounded  by  the  phenomenon.  No  one  who  did 
not  attribute  it  directly  to  the  inHuence  of  God  upon  human 
life  could  make  head  or  tail  out  of  it.  It  was  easy  enough  at 
first  to  charge  it  up  to  superstition  and  the  capacity  of  human 
nature  for  emotional  excitement.  But  it  was  soon  proven  that 
the  excitement  was  never  irrational,  not  to  say  immoral.  Xo 
appeal  was  ever  addressed  to  the  feelings  which  had  not  been 
first  passed  through  the  reason  and  the  conscience.  The  ef- 
fects upon  character  were  revolutionary.  The  drunkard  aban- 
doned his  cups ;  the  adulterer  resumed  the  practice  of  virtue  ; 
the  thief  restored  his  stolen  plunder ;  the  dishonest  gave  up 
their  ill-gotten  gains.  Tested  by  every  means  which  the  most 
expert  judges  knew  how  to  apply,  the  convulsion  was  beyond 
all  question  a  spiritual  one.  It  was  noticed  with  profound  in- 
terest and  surprise  that  the  work  was  at  first  more  powerful 
among  the  middle  and  upper  classes  than  among  the  lower, 
and,  considering  the  training  of  the  men  for  their  mission,  this 
was  inscrutable. 


(52  LIFE    OF    DWIC.HT    L.     MOODV. 

But  at  length  measures  were  adopted  by  the  great  strategist 
to  reach  all  classes.  His  powerfully  organizing  mind  grasped 
the  problem  of  the  sub-division  of  labor  and  solved  it.  Meet- 
ings were  multiplied  and  distributed.  Means  were  adapted 
to  ends.  The  movement  became  as  thoroughly  systematized 
as  that  of  a  great  army,  and  the  details  of  the  scheme  wore 
originated,  grasped,  held,  swayed  by  the  one  master  mind  at 
the  center.  No  army  was  ever  more  thoroughly  organized  or 
swung  with  easier  power  from  the  tent  of  a  commanding 
general. 

From  Edinburgh  the  two  Americans  went  down  to  Glas- 
gow, and  the  same  strange  scenes  were  re-enacted  there.  It 
began  to  be  discovered  that  the  conditions  made  no  difference 
with  the  results.  The  master  mind  knew  how  to  cope  with 
them  all.  Everything  became  plastic  to  his  touch.  The  Glas- 
gow meetings  were  begun  in  February,  and  continued  with 
various  interruptions  and  excursions  to  other  places  until  the 
middle  of  ^lay,  when  they  made  another  three  days'  visit  to 
Edinburgh,  and  from  there  swept  through  the  north  of 
Scotland  —  one  might  say  like  a  triumphant  army,  except  that 
no  one  moved  but  the  commanders,  who  created  their  legions 
in  every  city  which  they  entered.  To  disl)and  an  army  and 
re-create  it  every  three  days  in  widely  separate  cities  —  this  is 
unknown  in  military  tactics. 

In  these  few  months  the  whole  of  Scotland  had  l)een  stirred, 
and  Mr.  Moody,  feeling  that  the  movement  would  now  con- 
tinue without  his  personal  effort,  accepted  an  invitation  to  Ire- 
land. It  was  in  September  that  the  grapple  with  still  other 
(lifTficulties  and  conditions  began  ;  but  he  was  now  assisted  by 
the  prestige  which  he  had  ac(juired.  The  same  phenomena 
began  at  once  to  reproduce  themselves,  not  only  in  Belfast,  but 
in  Londonderry  and  Dublin.  For  months  the  waves  of  this 
profound  sj^iritual  excitement  rolled  in  every  direction,  and  in 
December  Mr.  Moody,  leaving  it  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the 
people  who  had  so  heartily  sustained  him,  went  over  to  Man- 
chester. 

Within  a  week  "  the  most  difficult  of  all  English  cities  to 
kindle  by  anything  but  politics  was  fairly  ablaze  and  the  ilames 
were  breaking  out  in  every  direction."  It  is  hard  to  find 
phraseology  to  describe  these  phenomena.  1  he  words  which 
we  are  obliged  to  use  have  been  so  often  uttered  in  intentional 
or  ignorant  exaggeration  that  the  mind  revolts  at  again  em- 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


63 


ploying  tlicm.  r)Ut  there  is  notliing  else  to  take  their  place, 
and  the  chastened  judgment  of  history  confirms  their  accuracy. 

London  remained.  Air.  Moody  must  test  his  doctrine,  his 
infiuence,  his  resources,  in  the  metropolis  of  the  world.  Any 
other  man  would  have  trembled.  He  was  not  even  flurried. 
"  If  you  want  me  to  come,"  he  said,  "  you  must  raise  five  thou- 
sand pounds  for  advertising,  halls,  etc."  "  W'e  have  already 
raised  ten,"  they  replied.  He  went  down  to  have  a  preliminary 
conference  with  the  ministers.  It  was  a  scene  long  to  be  re- 
membered. They  attacked  him  with  questions  from  every  side 
and  upon  every  subject.  In  no  single  display  of  those  remark- 
able powers  with  which  he  w  as  endowed  did  he  ever  appear  so 
utterly  bewildering  as  when  subjected  to  a  running  fire  of 
questions.  Those  who  have  seen  him  thus  confronted  have 
beheld  a  display  of  wit,  shrewdness,  and  candor  which  stands 
in  the  forefront  of  all  the  exhibitions  of  the  resources  of  the 
human  mind.  It  was  simply  impossible  to  corner  him.  It  was 
a  game  in  which  he  was  never  beaten.  As  a  mere  display  of 
skill  and  courage  and  resource  it  was  infinitely  more  exciting 
than  a  fencing  match. 

"  How  are  you  paid  ?  " 

"  I  have  money  enough  for  myself  right  in  my  ])cHM<et  and 
do  not  ask  for  a  cent." 

"  How  about  the  money  for  the  copyrights  on  yoiu'  hymn 
books  ?  " 

"  That  is  all  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  to  he  used  for 
public  purposes." 

"  Is  Mr.  Sankey  doing  this  to  peddle  American  organs?  " 

<'   XT^   "' 
i\0. 

"  I  am  a  ritualist.  Will  you  send  me  all  my  proper  and 
rightful  converts?" 

"  I  am  not  here  to  divide  up  the  profits  ;  but  to  get  as  many 
people  as  1  can  to  give  their  hearts  to  Jesus  Christ." 

"  Are  you  going  to  save  the  miserably  poor?  " 

"  Yes,  and  the  miserably  rich,  also." 

And  then  came  that  climacteric  and  triumphant  reply  which 
deserves  to  be  immortalized  and  which  turned  every  enemy 
into  a  loyal  and  lifelong  friend. 

"  What  is  your  creed?  " 

"  It  is  alreadv  in  print  and  in  circulation.  You  will  find  it 
in  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah  !  " 

For  adroitness,  directness,   effectiveness,  this   retort   mav 


64 


LIFE    OF    DWICMT    L,     MOODV. 


l)c  safely  placed  alongside  any  ever  given  in  a  crisis  by  the  lip 
of  man. 

On  the  ninth  of  March  he  began  to  fulfill  his  agreement  to 
devote  four  months  to  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  metropolis. 
It  was  divided  into  four  different  sections.  The  greatest 
rooms  to  be  found  in  each  were  secured.  Innumerable 
speakers  were  pledged  to  their  work.  The  tremendous  ma- 
chine began  to  gnnd,  and  the  hand  upon  the  crank  turned  it 
with  a  power  that  perhaps  was  never  surpassed  in  any  similar 
undertaking.  It  must  not  be  regarded  as  any  disparagement 
of  any  of  the  other  forces  or  influences  at  work  to  thus  recog- 
nize the  central  factor.  The  singing  of  his  companion  was  an 
adjunct  without  which  this  work  could  not  have  been  done. 
The  help  of  the  ministers  and  of  hundreds  of  consecrated  lay- 
men of  the  highest  order  of  talent  was  also  indispensable.  The 
reverent  mind  will  always  keep  before  it  the  sublime  fact  that  in 
every  such  movement  dwells  that  Holy  Spirit  which  is  the  light 
in  all  these  new  creations,  the  breath  that  woos  into  life  spiritual 
natures  which  are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins.  But  it  is  also 
inevitable  that  as  time  passes  and  we  begin  to  sift  and  analyze, 
we  shall  discover  more  and  more  clearly  that  all  such  great 
movements  have  their  origin  in  the  extraordinary  capacities 
of  some  human  being  whom  God  has  raised  uj)  and  prepared 
f(jr  his  work.  And  it  is  no  irreverence  nor  any  disrespectful 
hero  worship  to  recognize  and  applaud  and  imitate  so  far  as 
possible  the  methods,  the  talents,  and  the  power  of  such  a  man. 

Considered,  then,  in  this  tremendous  undertaking,  he  must 
have  the  credit  of  accomi)lishing  a  task  that,  for  obstacles  over- 
come and  results  achieved,  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  among 
the  greatest  achievements  of  any  man  in  any  undertaking  what- 
soever. The  amount  of  talent  required  for  this  organization,  of 
resource  for  the  overcoming  of  these  difificulties,  of  inspiration 
and  enthusiasm  for  all  these  efforts,  the  mere  physical  strength 
for  preaching  three  and  four  and  five  times  a  day,  for  staying 
up  far  into  the  night  to  talk  personally  with  converts,  and  then 
arranging  for  the  prosecution  of  the  campaign,  are  simply  un- 
accountable. 

The  work  was  exactly  similar  in  its  character  and  results  to 
all  that  had  gone  before.  It  stirred  the  great  metropolis  to  the 
depths  of  its  moral  and  spiritual  life.  It  was  like  the  passage 
of  a  great  steamer  through  the  bed  of  a  river,  by  which  the 
sediment  at  the  bottom  is  agitated  and  brought  to  the  surface. 


LIFK    OF    mVKlHT    L.     MOODY. 


65 


It  is  of  course  impossible  in  so  brief  an  essay  to  sul)stantiate 
the  assertions  here  made.  To  say  that  a  city  so  vast  was 
"  stirred  "  may  mean  one  thing  to  one  student  and  another  to 
another.  Nothing-  could  stir  it  all  but  an  earthquake !  No 
inlluence  except  the  bared  arm  of  the  Almighty  could  touch 
every  single  life  of  all  those  millions.  But  this  man  and  his 
great  lieutenant  probabl)'  afifected  the  entire  life  of  this  metrop- 
olis as  it  has  never  been  affected  before,  except  in  times  when 
the  life  of  the  nation  itself  had  been  threatened.  To  stir  a  little 
country  village  is  much.  To  agitate  a  metropolis  of  the  world, 
this  is  the  evidence  of  power  before  which  we  stand  in  a  sort 
of  awe.  The  mind  which  has  once  come  under  the  spell  of  this 
wonderful  campaign  in  Great  Britain  turns  away  from  it  with 
the  same  sort  of  reluctance  with  which  he  lays  down  the  story 
of  any  great  epoch  or  movement  of  human  life.  He  feels  that 
he  has  come  in  contact  with  elemental  forces  and  with  ele- 
mental men. 

And  it  is  with  a  reluctance  equall}'  great  that  he  turns  away 
from  the  narrative  of  Mr.  Moody's  personal  adventures  with 
some  of  the  greatest  men  and  women  which  the  age  has  pro- 
duced. He  lived  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  many  of  them. 
We  shall  not  aim  at  any  chronological  order  in  sketching  a 
few.     They  may  have  belonged  to  any  one  of  his  several  visits. 

Some  of  his  friends  were  anxious  about  his  health,  and 
finally,  by  a  well-laid  plan,  introduced  (against  his  will)  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  physicians  in  London,  Sir  Henry  Somers, 
I  think.  After  asking  a  good  many  other  questions,  the  doctor 
said  : 

"  How  often  do  you  preach?  " 

"  Oh,  sometimes  five  times  a  day." 

"  You  are  a  fool,"  said  the  doctor. 

"  How  many  hours  do  you  practice  ?  "  asked  Mr.  Moody. 

"  Oh,  sometimes  sixteen  and  seventeen." 

"  Then  you  are  a  bigger  fool  than  I  am  !  "  retorted  Mr. 
Moody. 

He  once  dined  with  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  the  grand  old  man, 
pointing  to  the  evangelist's  stomach  and  chest  (it  must  have 
been  later  on,  when  he  had  grown  stout)  said,  "  Mr.  Moody,  I 
wish  I  had  a  chest  and  stomach  like  yours." 

"  And  I  wish  I  had  a  head  like  yours!  "  he  replied,  drawing 
his  hand  under  his  chin  with  a  significant  gesture. 

Unconventional,  but  familiar;  easy,  but  respectful,  he  met 
5 


66  LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 

princes,  lords,  educators,  magnates  with  all  the  open  and  fear- 
less courage  of  a  man  whom  God  had  just  taken  from  the  soil 
of  a  new  continent.  He  never  despised  a  human  being,  but 
he  never  truckled  to  one. 

The  heart  sufifers  an  actual  wrench  to  be  compelled  to  turn 
away  from  that  romantic  story  of  his  discovery  of  Henry 
Drumniond ;  the  call  he  gave  him,  as  sweet  and  potent  as  the 
call  to  Saint  John  ;  the  beautiful  attachment ;  the  year  of  un- 
remitting and  loyal  service  of  the  young  recruit  to  the  grizzled 
veteran;  the  devotion  which  never  died  —  it  is  a  beautiful, 
beautiful  story. 

How  can  one  leave  untold  those  dramatic  and  terrible 
dangers  and  temptations  into  which  he  was  plunged  in  this 
maelstrom  of  excitement  ?    It  is  impossible  to  do  so  altogether. 

Some  time  during  the  first  few  weeks  after  the  inaugura- 
tion of  his  work  the  story  was  circulated  that  he  had  done 
something  in  America  which  had  made  the  people  lose  con- 
fidence in  him.  It  came  on  his  work  like  a  frost  and  bade  fair 
to  end  it,  when,  just  in  the  nick  of  time,  a  letter  arrived  from 
Chicago,  endorsing  him  in  the  warmest  terms,  and  signed  by 
many  of  the  best  known  clergymen. 

Such  coincidences  became  mere  commonplaces  in  his  alto- 
gether exceptional  life ;  but  perhaps  the  most  dramatic  of  all 
was  the  one  in  one  of  the  Irish  towns  where  he  made  the  state- 
ment that  "  a  man  who  had  ridiculed  the  meetings,  and  de- 
clared with  an  oath  that  he  would  never  enter  them,  fell  dead 
immediately  afterwards."  This  declaration  was  challenged  by 
a  group  of  infidels  who  immediately  set  to  work  to  disprove  it. 
They  went  to  the  place  where  'Sir.  Moody  alleged  that  it  hap- 
pened, and,  after  the  most  exhaustive  search,  could  not  dis- 
cover the  slightest  evidence  of  such  a  tragedy.  The  results  of 
their  investigations  were  published  and  the  most  violent  on- 
slaught which  he  had  ever  experienced  followed.  It  looked  as 
if  his  doom  was  sealed,  for  even  his  most  devoted  friends  could 
not  defend  him.  He  consulted  \\ith  them.all.  but  no  one  could 
remember  exactly  where  the  event  occurred.  Even  Drum- 
niond and  Sankey  were  helpless.  Life  liad  never  looked  so 
dark.  He  came  nearer  giving  up  than  at  any  other  moment 
of  his  existence.  But  the  very  next  day,  after  every  resource 
had  been  exhausted,  a  letter  was  placed  in  his  hancls,  locating 
the  scene  of  the  tragedy  just  across  the  line  from  the  town 
where  he  had  said  it  had  transpired !  The  proof  was  absolute 
and  the  vindication  complete. 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


67 


At  one  time  he  was  seized  with  a  sudden  premonition  of 
danger  so  acute  as  to  shake  even  his  iron  nerves.  In  times  of 
such  prodigious  excitement  the  most  dangerous  and  fanatical 
cranks  arc  always  around.  His  impression  was  that  one  of 
their  number  was  trying  to  stab  him.  It  grew  more  and  more 
vivid  daily,  and  finally  his  nerves  almost  broke  under  the  strain. 
He  would  leave  the  meetings  unobserved  and  steal  along 
through  the  shadows,  being  compelled  at  times,  in  sheer  nerv- 
ous exhaustion,  to  lean  up  against  doorposts  for  support. 

He  reproached  himself  and  tried  his  best  to  argue  down 
the  premonition.  He  locked  his  windows  and  his  doors  and 
did  everything  he  could  in  self-defense  except  to  employ  de- 
tectives. The  feeling  haunted  him  for  a  week,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  a  man  was  arrested  who  had  been  daily  dogging 
him  with  a  firm  intention  of  driving  a  dagger  into  his  heart. 

To  choose  an  anecdote  of  another  type  (perhaps  the  most 
charming  which  he  ever  related),  let  us  listen  to  his  own  story 
of  how  he  raised  the  money  with  which  the  Carrubers  Close 
mission  was  built  in  Edinburgh.  His  intimate  friends  urged 
him  to  undertake  it,  and  he  finally  consented,  saying,  "  Well, 
I  will  do  it  if  you  will  furnish  mc  the  best  minister  in  Edinburgh 
to  go  with  me  and  introduce  the  subject  to  the  people."  This 
request  was  granted,  and  a  fine,  delicate,  courteous  preacher  of 
immense  personal  infiuence  and  immeasurably  long  legs  was 
pressed  into  the  service.  They  started  out  together,  and  this 
.reverend  gentleman  preferred  modest  requests  for  sums 
ranging  from  ten  to  fifteen  pounds. 

"  I  saw,"  said  Mr.  Moody,  "  it  was  going  to  take  all  winter 
at  that-jait,  and  so  (not  daring  to  criticise  him)  when  we  came 
to  the  next  house  (that  of  a  very  grand  and  wealthy  woman) 
I  said,  '  How  mucli  are  you  going  to  ask  her  for?' 

"  Oh,  perhaps  fifty  pounds." 

"  I  kept  still,  but  when  the  door  opened  into  the  room  where 
she  was,  I  just  pushed  ahead  and  said : 

"  '  Madam,  I  have  come  to  ask  you  for  two  thousand 
pounds  to  help  build  a  new  mission  down  at  Carrubers  Close.' 

"  She  threw  up  both  hands  and  exclaimed  '  Oh,  mercy ! 
Mr.  Moody,  I  cannot  possibly  give  more  than  one  thousand.' 

"  This  reply  astonished  the  timid  minister  so  much  that 
he  almost  fainted,  and  when  they  got  outside  he  said,  '  You'd 
better  go  ahead.'  And  I  did !  About  two  o'clock  we  went  to 
the  minister's  house  for  lunch,  and  while  he  and  his  wife  were 


(58  \AFK    OF    DWICHT     I..     MO()[)V. 

apologizing;  because  the  lunch  was  so  cold  and  small  1  was 
packing  away  evcr\thing  I  could  lay  my  hands  on  so  as  to  be 
sure  to  have  enough  to  last  me  through  the  job. 

"  As  soon  as  we  had  tinislied,  out  we  went  again,  and  by 
seven  o'clock  we  had  raised  the  whole  sum  (something  like 
$100,000),  and  I  rushed  back  to  the  hotel  and  ate  the  biggest 
dinner  of  my  life.  The  next  day  I  left  town,  and  not  long  after- 
wards received  a  note  saying,  '  Well,  Moody,  you  raised  the 
money;  but  you  used  up  the  best  minister  in  Scotland,  and  we 
had  to  send  him  ofY  for  a  three  months'  vacation. 

The  departure  of  these  two  men  from  London  and  from 
Great  Britain  was  the  signal  for  such  a  good-bye  as  was  seldom 
ever  said  to  man.  They  left  a  different  country  behind  them 
from  what  they  found.  Old  churches  had  been  revived,  new 
ones  built,  ministers  converted  or  aroused  to  a  new  faith,  preju- 
dices removed,  young  men  by  the  thousands  rescued  from  use- 
less lives  and  turned  into  heroes,  university  men  quickenetl  to 
spiritual  life  and  sent  out  upon  missions  which  have  since  be- 
come famous. 

Surely,  unless  work  done  in  the  realm  of  the  spiritual  emo- 
tions is  to  be  judged  by  standards  different  from  all  others 
(and  the  human  element  to  be  eliminated  in  our  stutly  of  the 
phenomena,  while  all  is  traced  to  the  divine),  this  exercise  of 
power  bv  these  two  plain  men  must  be  reckoned  among  the 
prodigies  of  human  genius. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

Return  of  tlic  Famous  I'Lvangclists  to  America  —  Great  Preparation 
for  Their  Home-Coming — Erection  of  Buildings  for  Immense 
Audiences  —  Tlie  Campaign  in  Eastern  Cities  —  Sweeping 
Through  the  South  • —  A  Work  That  Never  Ceased  for  Twenty- 
eight  Years  —  First  Steps  Towards  Organizing  Educational  In- 
stitutions at  Northfield  —  Great  Results  From    Small  Beginnings 

—  The  Northfield  Seminary  for  Girls  —  The  Boys'  School  at 
Mount  Hermon  —  ^Ir.   Moody  Grapples  with   Intricate  Problems 

—  The  Summer  School  at  Northfield  —  Visited  by  the  ^Most 
Famous  Men  of  the  Times  —  Marvelous  Vacation  Work  —  Cher- 
ished Life  Plans  —  "I'm  Trying  to  Reproduce  IMyself  "  ^ — Mr. 
Moody's  Fervor,  Energy,  and  Faith  —  "  I'm  Awfully  Concerned 
About  this  Matter"  —  A  Man  of  Action,  as  well  as  Words  — 
How  He  Raised  the  Money  to  Found  and  Support  His  In- 
stitutions. 

THE  return  of  the  now  famous  evangelists  to  America 
was  the  signal  for  an  ovation  which  would  have  turned 
heads  less  strong.  Tt  was  a  matter  of  course  that  they 
would  be  called  upon  by  the  citizens  of  their  own 
countr}'  to  try  and  do  for  it  what  they  had  accomplished  for  a 
foreign  land,  and,  after  a  brief  rest,  they  began  a  campaign  not 
less  remarkable  for  numbers  influenced,  and  reaching  over  a 
territory  immensely  vaster.  Great  preparations  for  their 
comircg  were  made  in  many  of  the  large  cities.  Immense 
buildings  were  constructed  (where  they  did  not  already  exist), 
workers  were  trained  in  those  original  methods  which  had  now 
crystallized  into  a  system,  choirs  were  taught  the  Gospel 
Hymns,  and  everything  was  made  ready  for  their  convenience. 
The  first  meeting  was  held  in  Brooklyn  (October  24,  1875),  in 
the  rink  on  Clermont  Avenue,  which  had  sittings  for  live  thou- 
sand people,  and  other  large  buildings  like  Talmage's  church 
were  pressed  into  service  for  the  overflow  of  the  enormous 
crowds.  The  scenes  which  had  characterized  the  work  in  for- 
eign countries  were  from  the  first  moment  reproduced  at  home, 
and  as  it  was  evident  at  once  that  the  impulse  which  brought 
together  these  vast  concourses  was  something  more  than  mere 

(69) 


yO  LWK    i)V    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 

curiosity,  the  other  cities  which  were  watching  the  movement 
with  an  ahiiost  strained  earnestness  began  confidently  to  ex- 
pect the  same  results. 

From  Brooklyn  they  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  the  same 
wave  of  enthusiasm  followed  them,  and  where,  in  addition  to 
the  other  invariable  results,  that  of  raising  $100,000  for  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building  must  be  chron- 
icled. 

From  Philadelphia  they  went  to  New  York,  where  the  work 
was  as  much  greater  than  in  other  places  as  the  city  was  greater 
in  itself. 

At  the  end  of  I-'ebruary,  while  Mr.  Sankey  went  home  for 
a  while  to  rest,  Mr.  Moody  went  down  to  Atlanta,  Ga.,  to  help 
k.is  friend  Major  Whittle  in  an  evangelistic  convention,  and 
then  turning  northward  through  the  greater  cities  of  the  South, 
like  Nashville,  Louisville,  St.  Louis,  and  Kansas  City,  reached 
his  home  in  Chicago,  where  he  opened  with  religious  ceremo- 
nies the  great  church  at  the  corner  of  Chicago  and  LaSalle 
Avenues,  built  during  his  absence,  at  an  expense  of  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  secured  through  his  personal  fame  and 
efforts.  August  and  September  were  spent  in  rest  at  his  boy- 
hood home.  In  October  he  returned  to  Chicago  to  conduct 
a  campaign  whose  enthusiasm  and  results  were  enhanced  by 
the  pride  and  interest  the  people  felt  in  one  of  their  own  citizens. 

I-'rom  Chicago  they  went  to  Boston,  and.  to  the  surprise 
of  all,  found  no  obstacle  to  their  success  in  either  its  prejudices 
or  its  pride. 

A  protracted  narrative  of  these  meetings  and  of  others  like 
them  would  at  last  become  monotonous.  Let  it  suffice-to  say 
that  in  them  all,  with  but  slight  variation  of  characteristics  and 
effects,  the  familiar  phenomena  of  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
people  awed  into  silence,  moved  to  tears,  driven  to  repentance, 
and  led  to  reformation  were  ceaselessly  reproduced. 

The  fact  that  he  possessed  a  power  which  was  altogether 
exceptional  was  now  thoroughly  demonstrated,  and  the  future 
seemed  to  open  to  him  a  bright  prospect  of  useful  and  noble 
lal^ors. 

The  end  of  this  first  trip  through  America  closed  an  epoch 
in  yiv.  Moody's  life.  This  is  not  because  he  ceased  to  do  what 
he  had  previously  done,  but  because  he  began  to  do  something 
else.  During  all  the  years  whose  other  work  it  is  now  our 
duty  to  glance  at,  he  continued  to  perform  those  prodigies  of 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.     MOODY. 


71 


preacliing  the  Gospel  regarded  by  him  as  the  real  call  of  his  life. 
Every  season  saw  him  moving  through  the  great  cities  of  his 
native  land  like  a  whirlwind,  or  crossing  the  sea  to  renew  his 
labors  in  Europe,  which  he  revisited  again  and  'again.  For 
twenty-eight  years  from  1871  to  1899,  when  he  died,  he  kept 
up  this  work  continuously,  with  only  the  brief  rests  which  he 
took  in  the  summer.  In  order  to  form  a  true  estimate  of  this 
herculean  task  one  must  remember  how  seldom  in  the  history 
of  human  life  anything  of  a  similar  magnitude  has  been  wit- 


MR.  .MOODY'S  HOUSE  AT  NORTHFIELD  IX  WINTER,  LOOKING  EAST. 


nessed.  The  work  of  Whitefield  and  Wesley  sinks  into  insig- 
nificance when  compared  on  the  basis  of  the  number  of  years 
through  which  it  extended,  the  countries  which  they  evan- 
gelized, and  the  number  of  people  whom  they  addressed. 
AMierever  Mr.  Moody  went  through  all  these  years,  without 
any  waning  of  interest,  these  vast  crowds  thronged  about  him. 
Day  and  night  they  surged  against  doors  which  had  often  to 
be  closed  upon  them,  up  to  the  very  last  meeting,  in  which  he 
addressed  as  great  crowds  as  he  had  ever  faced  in  his  whole 
career. 

It  has  alreadv  been  observed  that  Mr.  Moodv  had  never 


y2  LIFE    OF    DWICIIT    I..     IMOODV. 

cnjoyc<l  the  privileges  of  an  cdiication.  This  lack  he  always 
deeply  felt ;  and  early  in  his  career  he  conceived  a  desire  to  se- 
cure for  the  young-  people  who  had  sufifered  this  same  depriva- 
tion a  training  which  world  enable  them  to  accomplish  what 
he  had  done,  but  to  do  it  even  more  effectively.  vSoon  after 
his  return  from  Europe  he  took  the  first  steps  towards  its  ex- 
ecution. The  progress  of  this  efYort  is  replete  with  illustra- 
tions of  the  ]:)eculiar  genius  of  the  man.  \Vhen  he  had  any- 
thing to  do  he  began  —  no  matter  where.  His  sagacious  mind 
could  be  depended  on  to  find  a  way  through  the  most  opaque 
and  stubborn  obstacles.  There  is  something  grim]\-  humorous 
in  the  sight  of  a  man  who  knew  absolutely  nothing  about  the 
science  of  education,  entering  in  this  bold  and  almost  defiant 
way  into  a  diMuain  of  action  for  wliicli  he  had  had  no  training 
whatsoever.  He  did  not  take  any  ])ains  to  inform  himself  as 
to  methods.  He  did  not  ask  advice.  He  simply  started. 
Adding  a  few  rooms  to  his  home,  he  invited  some  of  the  daugh- 
ters of  neighboring  farmers  to  assemble  and  begin  their  studies. 
The  interest  he  took  in  their  welfare,  and  the  mspiration  which 
that  interest  awakened  in  them,  attracted  many  others,  until 
finally  the  cpiarters  were  too  small  and  he  was  comi)elle(l  to 
begin  enlarging  them.  Additions  were  made  as  fast  as  the 
occasions  demanded,  until,  through  the  aid  of  friends  who 
trusted  his  judgment  imi)licitly,  great  buildings  began  to 
sjDring  up  like  mushrooms  in  the  inunediate  vicinity  of  his 
home.  The  first  sim])le  methods  of  instruction,  which  partook 
p.iore  or  less  of  his  own  imjjerfect  concej^tions  of  the  nature  of 
a  school  training,  were  abandoned  as  fast  as  they  were  found 
impracticable.  Teachers  were  tried  one  after  another  until  he 
fi>un(l  someone  who  knew  exactly  what  needed  to  be  done,  and 
into  those  efficient  hands  he  committed  the  grave  responsibili- 
ties of  the  rapidly  growing  school.  The  first  large  building 
was  erected  in  1879.  The  number  of  the  pupils  grew  apace, 
until  at  last  there  was  a  large  waiting  list  of  applicants  who 
could  not  be*  acconmiodated  even  in  the  commodious  and 
splendid  structures  which  now  adorn  the  beautiful  hillside. 

While  the  Northfield  Sennnar\  for  Oirls  was  still  in  its  in- 
fancy J\lr.  !Moody  decided  to  connnence  the  same  sort  of  work 
among  the  boys.  A  farm  of  four  hundred  acres  just  across  the 
Connecticut  River  came  into  the  market  and  he  bought  it. 
The  first  pupils  assembled  in  the  old  farmhouse,  and  when  they 
overcrowded  it  he  erected  a  few  brick  cottages  for  their  ac- 


LIFK    OF     DWIC.HT    I..     iMOODV. 


73 


comniodation.  All  who  had  the  courag^c  to  ask  for  an  educa- 
tion were  admitted,  and  they  streamed  in  from  all  over  America 
and  Great  Britain.  Taking-  this  success  as  an  indication  that 
he  should  go  forward,  he  erected  dormitories  and  a  large  reci- 
tation hall,  taking  all  chances  and  building  as  fast  as  the  needs 
demanded,  imtil  now  there  are  in  these  two  schools  something 
like  twenty  beautiful  and  permanent  edifices. 

In  these  two  schools  from  six  to  eight  hundred  young 
people  are  at  present  receiving  a  careful  training  in  all  the 
more  important  branches  of  knowledge.  They  are  certainly 
among  the  most  remarkal)le   and   successful   educational   in- 


DINING-ROOM,  MR.  MOODY'S  HOUSE  AT  NORTHFIELD. 


stitutions  in  America.  The  tuition  and  l)oard  are  as  low  as  it 
is  possible  for  them  to  be,  and  the  instruction  is  of  the  very 
highest  character.  The  influences  are  of  course  distinctively 
Christian.  The  dominant  idea  is  that  of  "  the  development 
of  the  spiritual  nature."  and  to  this  end  cvcrvthing  else  must 
be  subordinated,  although  the  course  of  intellectual  training 
fits  both  sexes  to  enter  the  l)est  colleges  or  universities  in 
America. 

An  institution  of  a  different  character  sprang  up  a  little 
later  on,  as  a  sort  of  offshoot  from  the  girls'  school.  Having 
a  vacant  building  on  his  hands  for  a  few  months,  Mr.  Moody 


74 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


invited  any  young  women  who  wished  to  study  cooking,  dress- 
making, nursing,  etc.,  to  occupy  it  and  pursue  these  I)ranches 
along  with  a  course  of  Bible  instruction.  This  was  such  a 
happy  hit  and  aroused  such  a  hearty  response  that  the  school 
is  now  a  permanent  feature  in  this  little  educational  realm. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  describe  these  schools  in  detail,  but 
only  to  make  them  illustrate  the  character  and  demonstrate 
the  power  of  their  fountkr.  It  is  the  strange  genius  which 
enabled  this  uneducated  man  to  grapple  with  the  most  in- 
tricate problems  of  modern  education  and  solve  them,  which 
arrests  and  startles  our  attention.  Nothing  seemed  more  cer- 
tain at  first  from  his  wild  and  almost  plunging  efiforts  than  that 
he  had  at  last  grappled  with  something  that  would  throw  liim. 
But  these  twenty  years  have  demonstrated  that  the  great 
wrestler  was  up  to  his  task.  We  marvel  at  the  growth  of  insti- 
tutions like  those  of  Cornell,  Chicago,  and  Lcland  Stanford 
University.  But  w^e  must  remember  that  these  at  Northficld 
were  founded  by  a  man  who  knew  nothing  of  what  he  was 
doing  until  he  did  it,  and  who,  instead  of  being  given  un- 
limited money  to  work  with,  had  to  raise  every  dollar  as  he 
went  along. 

It  would  have  seemed  as  if  these  stupendous  undertakings 
v.'ould  have  em.ployed  —  if  not  have  exhausted  —  the  energies 
of  a  single  man  :  but  Mr.  Moody  never  rested  as  long  as  any- 
thing else  could  be  done. 

In  1886  it  was  suggested  to  him  that  it  niiglit  be  a  feasil^le 
and  valuable  idea  to  invite  to  Northficld  (which  had  then  be- 
come famous  for  its  "  Conferences  ")  delegations  of  students 
from  the  different  colleges,  to  hold  a  sort  of  "  Summer  ScIkioI  " 
for  Bible  study.  The  suggestion  fell  in  with  his  notions  and  it 
was  executed.  They  came  from  all  (juarters  of  the  country, 
lived  in  tents,  spent  part  of  llic  day  in  earnest  work  and  ihe 
rest  in  as  earnest  play,  and  came  under  the  vitalizing  touch  of 
the  master  spirit  of  this  religious  epoch.  So  great  was  the 
effect  of  this  conference  upon  the  lives  of  those  who  attended 
it  that  they  clamored  for  its  repetition,  and  it  grew  at  last  into 
an  established  institution.  During  these  conferences  some  of 
the  most  important  events  of  the  century  may  be  said  to  have 
transpired.  It  was  here  that  the  "  Students'  Volunteer  Move- 
ment "  was  born,  and  that  hundreds  and  even  thousands  of 
college-bred  men  have  dedicated  their  lives  to  the  cause  of 
Christian    missions.     Mr.    Moody    attended    and    supervised 


lifp:  of  dwight  l.   .akxjdv. 


75 


them  all,  entering  not  only  into  the  life  of  the  assemblies,  but 
into  those  of  the  individual  men.  This  Summer  School  and 
this  Student  X'olunteer  Movement  must  be  reckoned  with  by 
the  historian  of  the  religious  life  of  the  century. 

These  "  student  "  conventions  were  an  afterthought.  The 
real  "  Northfield  Convention  "  was  born  in  1880. 

Mr.  Moody's  ideas  of  the  nature  of  the  religious  life  made  it 
inevitable  that  he  would  inaugurate  some  such  movement.  He 
thought  that  it  was  a  spiritual  law  that  if  men  should  put  them- 
selves in  the  proper  attitude  of  mind  and  heart  the  baptism  of 
the   Holy   Spirit   would   be   bestowed   upon   them.     Nothing 


THE  NORTHFIELD  AUDITORIUM.     IT  H.AS  A  SEATING  CAPACITY 
OF  THREE  THOUSAND. 


seemed  to  liim  to  conduce  more  to  this  than  public  assemblages 
addressed  by  men  of  great  spiritual  power.  He  felt  that  if 
people  could  be  thus  gotten  together  in  places  where  the  un- 
divided attention  could  be  given  to  religious  thought  the  mind 
would  be  awakened  and  the  soul  touched. 

In  1880,  therefore,  he  called  a  convention  at  Northfield  for 
this  purpose.  It  was  well  attended  and  his  hopes  were  realized. 
The  jicople  who  came  received  the  very  stimulus  which  he 
anticipated.  The  efifcct  upon  their  lives  was  most  extraor- 
dinary and  justified  him  in  repeating  the  eflfort  the  next  year. 
With  the  exception  of  the  three  summers  during  which  he  was 


y6 


LIFE    OF    DWIC.IIT    L     MOODY 


absent  in  Europe,  these  conventions  have  been  held  annually, 
and  have  been  regarded  by  competent  judges  as  among  the 
most  potent  factors  in  the  religious  life  of  the  age.  To  them 
he  gave  the  best  energies  and  efTorts  of  his  life.  He  always 
brought  to  them  those  speakers  whom  he  thought  most  able 
to  awaken  the  enthusiasms  of  the  divine  life,  no  matter  at  what 
cost.  Many  of  the  most  famous  men  of  the  age  have  been 
his  guests  at  these  times  and  have  conununicated  impulses  to 
the  spiritual  natures  of  the  great  audiences  which  will  outlast 
life  itself.  But  no  matter  who  was  there,  Mr.  Moody  himself 
was  always  the  soul  and  center  of  the  whole  movement.  From 
him  have  always  come  the  noblest  and  grandest  shocks  of 
spiritual  power.  The  management  of  such  complex  meetings, 
the  harmonizing  of  so  many  dift'crcnl  views,  the  suppression 
of  so  much  that  was  erratic,  the  development  of  so  much  talent 
that  was  latent,  have  l)een  among  the  highest  j^roofs  of  that 
marvelous  power  whose  nature  we  are  trying  to  fathom.  This 
work,  it  must  be  remembered,  w'as  done  in  vacation  !  All  these 
weighty  and  nmltifarious  occuj^ations  were,  so  to  speak,  l)ut 
the  pastimes  of  a  giant. 

We  have  not  yet  finished  cnu"  enumeration  of  the  feats  which 
Mr.  Moody  accomplished.  Another  task  of  a  character  inti- 
mately associated  witli  what  he  was  (loing  in  Northfield  had 
to  be  worked  otU.  It  was  perhaps  his  most  cherished  life  plan. 
He  had  long  before  discovered  that  there  were  multitudes  of 
young  people  scattered  over  the  country  who,  if  they  had  the 
opportunity  to  study  the  English  Iiible  under  favorable  circum- 
stances, might  develop  into  useful  and  successful  workers  in 
the  life  of  the  church.  His  conception  of  their  availability  for 
this  purpose  was  the  outgrowth  of  his  modesty.  He  honestly 
believed  that  there  was  nothing  remarkable  about  himself,  and 
that  there  were  thousands  of  people  better  al)le  than  he  to  ac- 
complish what  he  had  done,  if  they  only  would  give  themselves 
to  such  work  with  as  much  consecration.  This  conce])ti()n 
seemed  to  some  of  those  who  knew  him  the  most  remarkable 
thing  about  the  man.  He  actually  did  not  believe  himself  to 
be  possessed  of  any  extraordinary  talents.  He  attributed 
everything  which  he  had  done  to  the  "  influence  of  the  Holy 
Spirit."  He  thought  that  if  he  could  get  hold  of  young  men 
and  women,  impress  them  with  his  ideas,  get  them  to  seek  this 
consecration,  furnish  them  with  a  good  understanding  of  the 
Engli.sh  Bible,  and  send  them  forth  into  the  world,  they  could 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOC^DV. 


n 


turn  the  world  upside  down.  One  of  his  most  eommon  re- 
marks was,  "  I  am  trying  to  reprochice  myself ;  "  and  every  time 
a  fine  young  fellow  began  to  follow  and  imitate  him  he  seemed 
to  be  kindled  with  the  hope  that  he  had  at  last  found  a  spiritual 
child.  It  was  the  longing  of  a  mother  for  ofifsjjring.  It  was 
Paul's  passion  for  spiritual  parenthood.  When  I  was  pastor 
of  his  church  I  brought  him  several  such  men.  He  fixed  his 
piercing  eye  upon  them  and  said,  "  You  want  an  education  ? 
\\'hat  do  you  want  it  for?  To  do  good,  did  you  say?  Are 
you  in  earnest?  W^ell,  get  ready  and  start  for  Northfield  to- 
morrow ;  I  will  pay  your  expenses."  And  then  his  great  brown 
eyes,  lit  up  with  an  almost  maternal  tenderness,  would  follow 
them  to  the  door  as  if  he  were  dreaming  of  their  future. 

For  many  different  reasons  he  had  been  compelled  to  post- 
pone the  accomplishment  of  his  plan  for  their  education  from 
year  to  year;  Init  at  last,  in  i88(),  he  came  to  Chicago  deter- 
mined to  carry  it  out  at  all  hazards,  and  I  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  able  to  study  the  operations  of  his  mind  during  the  gesta- 
tion of  this  great  enterprise.  It  was  to  me  the  most  impressive 
mental  and  spiritual  exhibition  I  had  ever  witnessed.  The 
fervor,  the  intensity  of  feeling,  the  prodigious  energy  of  will, 
the  confident  faith,  were  like  the  mighty  forces  of  nature.  One 
day  a  few  weeks  previous,  and  while  riding  with  him  in  his 
buggy  in  Northfield,  he  drove  up  a  beautiful  and  quiet  valley 
and  began  to  talk  about  his  plans.  His  eye  kindled.  His 
face  glowed.  Suddenly  he  stopped  the  horse,  took  off  his  hat, 
and  said,  in  tones  that  sent  a  positive  physical  thrill  through 
me,  "  I  am  awfully  concerned  about  this  matter.  Let  us  pray 
God  to  help  us  consecrate  ourselves  to  it !  "  That  prayer  went 
to  heaven  if  anything  ever  did  !  It  was  propelled  by  a  spiritual 
force  that  would  have  carried  it  across  infinity.  It  filled  my 
mind  v.ith  an  indescribable  awe. 

When  he  arrived  upon  the  ground  ready  to  begin,  such  was 
my  curiosity  about  his  mind  that  I  studied  its  processes  as  a 
jeweler  does  the  movements  of  a  watch.  He  came  to  the  scene 
of  operation  as  a  general  would  to  a  field  of  battle,  seizing  with 
lightning-like  rapidity  upon  the  strategic  positions,  utilizing 
every  means  towards  his  end ;  but  utterly  without  previous 
definite  preparation.  Very  little  money  (if  any)  had  been 
promised,  no  pupils  were  actually  in  sight,  the  location  had 
not  been  selected  when  he  swooped  down  upon  the  field. 

There  were  no  moments  in  his  life  more  full  of  interest  to 


78 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


the  Student  of  his  strange  nature  than  those  in  which  he  was 
incuhating  (if  I  may  say  so)  —  when  his  mind  was  hatching  its 
thoughts.  His  manner  was  an  "  aljsent  "  one.  His  eyes 
seemed  turned  inward.  He  was  not  quite  as  talkative  as 
usual,  although  he  "  came  out  of  himself  "  suddenly  and  easily, 
but  sank  back  again  quickly.  His  brow  was  not  often 
"  knitted,"  and  the  mental  effort  was  not  a  painful  one,  at  least 
apparently.  Instead  of  straining  itself  after  a  conclusion  I 
should  have  said  his  mind  sank  into  a  quiescent  state,  as  a  bird 
sits  on  a  nest,  and  that  his  "  conclusions  "  came  to  him,  rather 
than  awaited  his  approach. 

lie  was  in  this  state  of  nu'nd  for  several  days,  as  he  moved 
among  his  friends  talking  about  this  new  enterprise.  I  took 
him  one  day  to  look  at  a  building  site  which  seemed  to  me 
available.  He  said  little,  but  the  first  glimpse  of  it  evidently 
brought  all  his  plans  to  a  focus.  With  lightning-like  rapidity 
he  secured  an  option  from  the  owners,  and  within  a  few  hours 
consummated  tlie  bargain.  Where  he  got  his  money  from  I 
could  never  discover,  but  almost  before  his  friends  knew  what 
he  was  about  the  property  (three  large  residences  next  the 
church  on  LaSalle  Avenue  and  a  large  lot  in  the  rear)  was  pur- 
chased, and  he  immediately  commenced  the  erection  of  a  com- 
modious and  beautiful  building. 

Scarcely  were  these  plans  unfolded  to  the  ])ublic  before 
young  men  and  young  women  began  pouring  in  from  all  quar- 
ters of  the  country,  attracted  by  his  fame,  his  invitation,  and 
his  promises.  Perhaps  no  movement  inaugurated  by  him 
ever  received  a  more  intelligent  criticism  than  this.  Many  in- 
telligent judges  declared  the  plan  unfeasible,  and  likely  to  flood 
the  country  with  callow  youngsters  half  fitted  for  their  work. 
One  very  able  article  wounded  Mr.  Moody  more  deeply  than 
anything  that  had  ever  been  published  against  him  ;  but  he 
pursued  his  accustomed  course  and  kept  silent,  although  those 
who  watched  him  closely  could  see  his  heart  bled.  The  m- 
stitution  was  on  its  feet,  like  everything  else,  almost  before  it 
was  born,  as  all  his  spiritual  and  material  children  struck  out 
for  themselves  at  once,  like  those  of  fishes.  It  would  take  a 
book  to  describe  it  and  its  results.  It  would  require  another 
to  discuss  its  merits  and  defects.  The  aim  of  this  story  of  his 
life  is  to  show  that  he  possessed  the  genius  and  the  power  to 
launch  it,  and  to  point  out  the  fact  that  like  everything  else  he 
undertook  he  made  it  "  go." 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


79 


In  connection  with  this  work  it  may  be  well  to  introduce  a 
reference  to  another  undertakini^  which  evidenced  the  prodi- 
gious organizing  powx'r  of  the  man,  for  it  was  around  this  school 
as  a  center  that  it  was  made  to  revolve.  I  refer  to  the  series 
of  meetings  held  during  the  World's  Fair.  Mr.  Moody  was 
not  in  sympathy  with  the  Congress  of  Religions,  and  this  fact, 
combined  with  the  opportunity  for  such  an  effort,  led  him  to 
organize  a  remarkable  campaign  of  religious  services  lasting 
through  many  months.  They  were  scattered  through  every 
part  of  the  city,  and  their  management  was  entirely  in  his 
hands.  He  directed  all  the  movements  like  a  major-general. 
Tl  was  his  fame  and  labor  which  paid  the  bills.  It  was  his 
faith  that  sustained  his  discouraged  followers  when  one  night 


D.  L    MOODY'S  RESIDENCE  AT  NORTHFIELD.  I.UUKING  SOUTH. 

they  found  themselves  with  a  deficit  of  several  thousands  of 
dollars.  "  Do  not  be  troubled  about  a  little  matter  like  that," 
he  said,  and,  dropping  upon  his  knees,  he  laid  the  case  before 
God.  It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  money  came.  It 
always  did. 

In  closing  this  list  of  his  different  enterprises,  brief  refer- 
ence must  be  made  to  the  latest  offspring  of  his  fertile  brain 
and  loving  heart.  It  is  an  organization  for  the  distribution  of 
sacred  literature.  It  has  two  aims,  one  the  dissemination  of 
such  literature  through  the  prisons  of  tlic  coimtry.  and  the 
other  its  sale  for  a  merely  nominal  sum,  to  the  masses  of  people 
who  do  not  enjoy  religious  privileges.  It  has  grown  to  enor- 
mous proportions.  Immense  siuns  of  money  have  been  con- 
tributed for  gratuitous  distribution  and  almost  innumerable 
copies  have  been  sold. 


3o  LIFE    OF    DWir.IIT    L.    MO(MnV 

All  these  institutions  were  under  full  headway  when  he  died, 
and  by  his  own  personal  efforts  he  was  raising  the  money  to 
carry  them  on.  The  next  day  after  his  burial  an  appeal  to  the 
world  to  provide  funds  for  the  eontinuation  of  the  "  work  be- 
gun and  for  twenty  years  carried  on  by  Dwight  L.  ]\Ioo(ly  " 
was  issued.  The  plea  is  entitled  "  Moody  Memorial  hjidow- 
ment,"  and  begins : 

"  '  I  have  been  ambitious,  not  to  lay  up  wealth,  but  to  leave 
work  for  you  to  do,'  were  almost  the  last  words  of  I).  L.  Moody 
to  his  children. 

■*  The  institutions  founded  by  Mr.  Moody  are  unitjuc  in 
character.  They  consist  of  the  Northfield  Seminary  and 
Training  School  for  Young  Women,  the  Mt.  Hermon  School 
for  Young  Men,  and  the  Bible  Institute  at  Chicago.  The 
Northfield  plant  consists  of  1,200  acres  of  land  and  about 
tvventv  buildings,  which,  with  the  ]M-esent  endowment,  are 
valued  at  one  and  one-quarter  million,  and  is  practically  free 
from  debt.  At  Chicago  the  buildings,  land,  and  endowment 
exceed  $250,000  in  value.  The  Northfield  schools  have  about 
400  students,  each  of  whom  is  charged  $100  per  annum  for 
board  and  tuition.  The  annual  cost  is  about  $200.  At  Chi- 
cago the  amount  required,  approximately,  is  $150  each  for  300 
students.  In  brief,  therefore,  the  sum  of  about  $125,000  an- 
nually is  required  to  maintain  the  work  inaugurated  by  Mr. 
Moody  on  the  principles  successfully  pursued  for  the  j^ast 
twenty  years.  This  sum  has  heretofore  been  largely  raised  by 
his  personal  efforts.  y\  fund  (if  $3,000,000  is  asked  for,  which, 
at  4  per  cent.,  will  perpetuate  the  work  of  Mr.  Moody." 

To  complete  this  glimpse  of  the  herculean  labors  Qf  the 
man  it  will  be  a  pleasure,  no  doubt,  to  see  the  following 
enumeration  of  the  buildings  erected  through  his  efforts. 

His  first  building  was  tlu'  Illinois  .Street  Church  in  Chicago, 
erected  about  1858,  for  the  shelter  of  his  mission  school  and 
the  church  which  grew  out  of  it.  His  second  building  enter- 
prise was  the  Young  Men's  Christian  .\ssoeiation  building  in 
Chicago,  erected  in  1866,  the  first  commodious  edifice  for 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  purposes  in  this  coimtry. 
His  third  enterprise  was  the  re-erection  of  the  first  Young 
Men's  Christian  yVssociation  building  destroyed  by  fire,  both 
known  as  the  Farwell  Hall.  This  also  was  destroyed  in  the 
great  fire  in  1871  and  again  rebuilt,  mainly  through  Mr. 
Moodv's   efforts.     The    fourth    and    i)resent    beautiful    edifice 


lifp:  of    dwicht   l.   moody.  8i 

stands  partly  upon  the  original  site  on  land  pven  by  John  V. 
Farwell.  The  other  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
buildings  in  America  for  which  money  was  raised  by  Mr. 
Moody  and  in  whose  erection  he  was  more  or  less  conspicuous 
were  at  New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  San  Francisco,  Bal- 
timore, and  Scranton. 

In  Great  Britain  these  Iniildings  were  erected  by  Mr. 
Moody's  personal  efforts  or  from  the  inspiration  of  his  works : 
Christian  Union  building,  Dublin ;  Christian  Institute  build- 
ing, Glasgow ;  Carubber's  Close  Mission,  Edinburgh ;  Confer- 
ence Hall,  Stratford  ;  Down  Lodge  Hall,  Wandsworth,  Lon- 
don, and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building, 
Liverpool.  In  addition  to  the  above  are  twenty  or  more  build- 
ings at  Northfield.  Mass.,  the  Chicago  Avenue  Church,  and 
Bible  and  Institute  buildings,  Chicago. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Mr.  Moody's  Wonderful  Capacity  to  Stand  Hard  and  Continuous 
Labor  —  Always  "Ready  for  Business"  —  His  Disregard  of 
Ordinary  Laws  of  Health  —  "  Have  You  Got  Anything  to  Eat?  " — 
His  Miraculous  Power  to  Stand  Fatigue  —  His  Intellectual  and 
Moral  Endowments  —  Looking  into  the  Faces  of  More  than  One 
Hundred  Million  People  —  His  Wonderfully  Retentive  Mem- 
ory—  A  Life  of  Incessant  Activities  —  How  He  Treated  Men  he 
Personally  Disliked  —  Dropping  Men  as  if  They  Were  "Hot 
Coals"  —  His  Devotion  to  His  Friends  —  Standing  by  Henry 
Drummond  —  How  Drummond's  Death  Affected  Mr.  Moody  — 
His  Great  Will  Power — His  Humility  and  Modesty  —  Refusing 
an  Ofifer  of  $25,000  for  His  Autobiography  —  Offered  $10,000  by 
a  Newspaper  for  a  Two-Hours  Interview  - —  The  Power  of  His 
Eye  —  Did  He  Possess  the  Gift  of  Hypnotism? 

IT  has  seemed  proper  to  pursue  the  general  course  of  Mr. 
Moody's  Hfe  in  a  chronological  sequence,  and  then  to 
present  a  l)ird's  eye  view  of  the  particular  undertakings 
which  he  has  originated,  in  order  that  confidence  may  be 
established  in  the  claim  that  his  character  is  one  of  the  richest 
and  most  wonderful  of  modern  times.  It  follows  as  a  matter 
of  course  that  those  peculiar  characteristics  must  be  studied 
and  analyzed  if  we  are  to  discover  the  sources  of  his  power. 

It  is  too  soon  to  succeed  in  this,  but  not  too  soon  to  begin, 
and  it  will  be  the  purpose  of  the  last  part  of  this  sketch  to  point 
out  some  of  those  strange  gifts  and  indicate  the  lines  along 
which  further  investigation  must  go. 

Let  us  begin  at  the  physical  basis  of  life.  He  came  into  the 
world  with  a  body  endowed  with  the  capacity  to  stand  such 
strains  as  have  been  put  upon  few  others  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  It  seemed  to  have  been  constructed  of  steel  and  to 
have  been  incapable  of  exhaustion,  and  almost  of  fatigue.  He 
did  not  need  much  sleep,  and  what  he  did  need  he  could  get  at 
any  time  and  under  any  circumstances,  falling  into  peaceful 
slumber  the  instant  he  touched  the  pillow.  Xo  matter  how 
late  he  retired  he  was  likely  to  be  up  at  five  or,  at  the  latest. 

(S2) 


LIFE    OF    DWIGIIT    L.    MOODY.  83 

six  o'clock,  and,  after  a  ride  or  a  walk,  was  "  ready  for  bus- 
iness." 

His  digestive  powers  were  of  the  most  perfect  character. 
He  appeared  to  be  able  (and  inclined)  to  break  all  the  ordinary 
laws  of  health.  He  would  drink  four  or  five  glasses  of  water 
during  a  meal.  He  ate  with  the  greatest  rapidity  and  scouted 
Mr.  Gladstone's  rules  of  chewing  each  mouthful  seventy  times 
—  with  humorous  contempt.  Dashing  into  my  house  one  even- 
ing after  a  day  of  terrific  effort,  he  exclaimed,  "  Have  you  got 
anything  to  eat?  "  A  large  dish  of  pork  and  beans  (of  which 
he  was  very  fond)  was  placed  before  him.  He  sat  down,  mur- 
mured a  silent  i)rayer,  and,  without  interrupting  his  repast  by 
a  word,  emptied  the  entire  dish  as  fast  as  he  could  carry  the 
food  to  his  mouth.  And  yet  this  was  done  with  a  certain  in-  " 
definable  grace !  He  often  ate  voraciously,  but  never  like  an 
animal  nor  ever  like  an  epicure. 

In  the  later  years  of  his  life  Air.  Aloody's  weight  increased 
to  more  than  three  hundred  pounds.  Such  bulk  as  this  be- 
comes an  irreparable  misfortune  to  most  men,  for  they  become 
sluggish  and  appear  gross.  Neither  consequence  followed 
with  him.  He  was  as  light  upon  his  feet  as  a  boy,  and  the 
spiritual  qualities  in  his  personal  appearance  were  not  even 
cloaked. 

In  spite  of  this  incumbrance  his  capacity  for  work  was  little 
short  of  miraculous.  The  physical  vitality  of  the  average  min- 
ister is  pretty  severely  taxed  by  the  delivery  of  two  or  three 
public  addresses  in  the  week.  Mr.  Moody  often  delivered 
four  and  five  in  a  day,  five  days  a  week  through  nine  or  ten 
months  of  the  year,  and  then  in  vacation  performed  the  hardest 
labors  of  his  life.  These  efforts,  until  the  very  last  trip,  seemed 
to  be  mere  gymnastic  exercises  to  keep  him  in  condition. 

Passing  from  his  physical  to  his  intellectual  endowments, 
his  biographer  will  awaken  surprise,  and,  perhaps  excite  in- 
credulity ;  for  it  must  be  deliberately  asserted  that  he  pos- 
sessed one  of  the  most  highly  organized  brains  which  the  world 
has  ever  produced.  He  was  not  a  "  thinker  "  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  that  word.  Whether  it  would  have  been  possible  for 
him  to  have  become  an  original  investigator  like  Edison,  or 
profound  ])hilosopher  like  Emerson,  is  a  matter  of  mere  specu- 
lation ;  but  his  contribution  to  the  store  of  original  thought  is 
very  meager.  He  did  not  originate  thought.  He  only  appro- 
priated it.     He  did  not  even  create  a  new  phraseology.     He 


84 


LIFE  OF  D\vi(;irr   i..   moody. 


simply  seized  upon  that  of  daily  life  and  breathed  a  new  vitality 
into  it.  Compared  with  a  man  like  F.  W.  Robertson,  to  w  hose 
pages  the  noblest  intelleets  of  the  age  have  gone  for  fertilizing 
thoughts,  Mr.  Moody  cannot  in  any  sense  be  called  an  intel- 
lectual force.  But  it  is  not  by  logical  reasoning  merely  that 
the  grandeur  of  the  human  intellect  is  shown.  The  mind  has 
another  power  not  less  wonderful.  \\'hile  some  of  the  great 
geniuses  of  history  have  been  compelled  to  arrive  at  conclu- 
sions through  long  and  subtle  processes  of  reasoning,  others 
have  reached  them  by  a  mental  spring  as  swift  as  lightning. 
This  is  the  power  which  we  call  "  intuition,"  and  it  was  this 
power  which  Mr.  Moody  possessed  to  a  degree  which  filled  the 
minds  of  those  who  knew  him  with  wonder.  I  never  knew  him 
to  pass  through  such  processes  of  "  reflection  "  as  bring  out 
the  best  results  of  most  men's  thinking.  All  he  seemed  to  re- 
quire was  to  have  a  given  problem  set  before  him  in  the  clearest 
liglit  possible,  and  he  instantly  saw  the  answer  in  all  its  bear- 
ings. It  was  like  the  mental  operation  of  those  mathemati- 
cians who  astonish  the  world  by  their  power  to  compute  with- 
out addition,  multiplication,  subtraction,  and  tlivision. 

No  single  intellectual  talent  was  more  often  the  subject  of 
remark  than  his  memory  for  names  and  faces.  He  had  un- 
questionably looked  into  the  countenances  of  more  people  than 
any  man  who  ever  lived  (100,000,000,  Arthur  T.  Pierson  esti- 
mates), and  IkuI  made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  more  in- 
dividuals than  many  of  us  have  ever  seen.  And  yet  he  seemed 
never  to  forget  any  of  those  who  had  once  made  a  distinct  and 
positive  impression  upon  his  mind!  He  could  tell  you  the 
names  of  the  "  leading  men  "  (a  favorite  expression)  in  Lon- 
don, Edinburgh,  Dublin,  Boston,  New  York,  San  Francisco, 
St.  Louis,  Atlanta,  or  any  other  place  in  which  he  had  ever 
been. 

Such  gifts  as  these  arc  certainly  not  always  accompanied 
bv  those  of  a  fine  moral  character ;  l)Ut  Mr.  Moody  was  in- 
tensely and  almost  perfectly  ethical.  His  ideas  of  truth  and 
honor  and  virtue  were  most  exalted.  No  attack  has  ever  been 
made  upon  him  here.  He  was  incorruptible.  Thrown  into 
ten  thousand  delicate  situations  with  women,  and  difificult  ones 
with  men,  handling  enormous  sums  of  money  and  never  com- 
pelled to  render  an  account,  he  stands  l^efore  the  world  a 
monument  of  fidelity  and  of  ])urity,  unsmirched,  uncondenined, 
and  even  unsuspected. 


LIFK    OF    DVVIGHT    L.    MOODY.  85 

He  and  Herbert  Spencer  were  far  enough  apart  theologi- 
cally, but  his  heart  would  have  responded  to  that  noble  senti- 
ment of  the  great  philosopher,  "  Rightness  expresses  of  actions 
what  straightness  does  of  lines ;  and  there  can  no  more  be  two 
kinds  of  right  action  than  there  can  be  two  kinds  of  straight 
lines." 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  in  life  to  see  men  of  such  extraor- 
dinary intellectual  and  moral  endowments,  cold,  hard,  just,  and 
unloving.  But  tears  start  to  the  eyes  of  those  who  knew  Mr. 
Moody  well,  at  tlie  thought  of  the  absolutely  inexhaustible 
depths  of  his  love  for  all  living  things.  Horses,  dogs,  cows, 
animals,  and  birds  —  all  excited  the  emotions  of  his  heart.  In 
the  realm  of  human  life,  love  for  all  classes  was  a  master 
passion.  Misfortune,  poverty,  ignorance,  crime  even,  could 
not  throw  anyone  out  of  the  pale  of  his  universal  sympathy. 
He  had  his  antipathies,  but  they  were  not  directed  against  any 
class.  They  were  as  likely  to  be  aroused  by  the  rich  as  by  the 
])oor,  by  the  learned  as  the  ignorant.  These  antipathies  were 
never  enmities.  He  had  no  hard  feelings.  He  was  simply 
repelled.  He  gave  men  a  wide  berth  if  he  did  not  like  them. 
But  if  he  did  he  opened  his  heart  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Little 
children,  whether  his  own,  his  grandchildren,  or  the  children 
of  strangers,  fled  to  his  arms  as  to  those  of  a  mother.  There 
never  has  been  a  home  outside  of  Eden  more  filled  with  the 
divinity  of  love  than  his.  To  be  in  it,  to  see  the  play  of  affec- 
tion, the  absolute  confidence  and  rest  of  love,  was  a  beautitude. 

There  will  be  readers  of  these  statements  who  will,  how- 
ever, raise  one  complaint  against  him.  They  will  say  that  al- 
though he  loved  ardently  he  did  not  love  forever.  There  are 
those  who  have  been  stung  by  what  seemed  to  them  desertion, 
and  it  is  here  that  those  who  knew  him  best  wall  have  to  defend 
him  from  the  charge  of  disloyalty.  That  defense  is  simple. 
What  seemed  desertion  was  not  really  such.  He  was  a  man 
whose  life  was  one  of  incessant  and  terrible  activities.  He 
needed  helpers.  When  he  found  them  he  laid  hands  on  them 
with  a  sort  of  affectional  violence.  He  gave  them  his  whole 
heart  and  trusted  them  implicitly.  If  the  time  came  when  they 
were  no  longer  of  service  to  him  he  dropped  them  and  sought 
others.  There  is  no  use  denying  that  when  he  dropped  men 
it  was  as  if  they  were  "  hot  coals,"  and  it  was  impossible  for 
those  from  whom  he  had  received  such  loyal  and  almost  pas- 
sionate devotion  at  one  time  not  to  feel  as  if  he  were  unkind 


j^5  i-U^'-"-  OJ-"   Dwunrr   i..   moody. 

and  untrue  when  he  turned  away.  Hut  how  could  it  be  other- 
wise? Could  he  keep  up  intimacies  with  the  thousands  of 
people  who  at  one  time  or  another  had  been  his  lieutenants? 
It  was  a  physical  and  mental  impossibility.  Sometimes  those 
who  had  been  thus  abandoned  had  a  chance  to  test  that  mem- 
ory and  that  love,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there  came  to  them 
revelations  of  an  unbroken  and  unqualified  affection  such  as 
filled  them  with  deliij^ht.  The  depth  of  that  devotion,  the  utter 
consistency  of  that  affection,  can  be  proven  by  a  thousand  cases, 
but  none  would  be  more  striking  and  interesting  than  that 
of  his  loyalty  to  Henry  Drummond.  It  is  now  a  matter  of 
historv  how  violently  Drummond  was  attacked  in  Northficld 
during  ]\Tr.  Moody's  absence,  for  his  advocacy  of  views  which 
were  regarded  as  erroneous  in  that  supremely  orthodox  place. 
Mr.  Moody  was  in  the  midst  of  his  campaign  in  Chicago  at  the 
time,  and  many  of  his  most  generous  supporters  wrote  and 
telegraphed  that  "  if  "he  did  not  denounce  Drummond  they 
would  abandon  him."  Instead,  he  destroyed  their  messages, 
and,  sending  for  Drummond,  said  :  "  I  want  you  to  take  part 
in  my  meetings."  With  his  accustomed  grace  and  considera- 
tion the  great  author  replied:  "  I  should  only  injure  yon  in- 
stead of  your  sustaining  ;//('."  "  Preach  some  of  your  old  ser- 
mons." said  Mr.  Moody.  "  No,  I  would  rather  not  take  any 
part,"  Mr.  Drummond  replied.  "  Well,  wherever  you  go  or 
whatever  you  do,  I  am  your  friend,  and  I  will  stand  by  you  with 
the  last  drop  of  my  blood,"  said  the  old  fidus  Achates,  and  he 
did.  He  was  in  Cincinnati  when  the  news  of  Drummond's 
death  came,  and  that  evening  at  my  table  he  laid  his  knife  and 
fork  down  and  cried  like  a  child.  "  He  was  the  most  Christlike 
man  I  ever  met.  I  never  saw  a  fault  in  him,"  he  said  over  and 
over  again  through  his  sobs.  No,  do  not  let  anyone  do  him  the 
injustice  of  calling  him  unfaithful ;  it  was  only  the  lack  of  time 
and  opportunity.  It  is  one  of  the  strangest  coincidences  of 
history  that  these  two  great  men  should  each  say  of  the  other 
"  He  is  the  most  Christlike  man  I  ever  knew." 

All  these  traits  would  have  had  their  beauty  and  value  in  a 
nature  that  was  gentle,  yielding,  and  lacking  in  vigor  and  pur- 
pose ;  but  they  would  not  alone  have  fitted  a  man  to  do  a  work 
which  was  almost  co-extensive  with  Christendom.  It  was 
necessary  that  they  should  be  animated  by  a  will  whose  power 
was  commensurate  with  their  beauty.  Fortunately  for  the 
world  this  sublime  endowment  was  not  lacking.     Rehind  all 


LIFE    OF    I)WH;HT    L.    MooDV 


87 


these  other  great  gifts  lay  a  force  whose  nature  we  do  not  and 
probably  cannot  understand.  We  call  it  "  will  power."  It  is 
that  energy  which  impels  the  mind  and  body  with  resistless 
power  along  any  path  which  it  has  chosen.  In  Mr.  Moody  it 
was  like  compressed  air,  powder,  or  electricity.  Whenever  a 
thing  had  to  be  done  he  sprang  to  it  as  a  projectile  leaps  from 
a  cannon,  and  nothing  could  stop  his  progress.  He  knew 
nothing  of  those  periods  of  halting  and  hesitation,  nothing  of 
those  hours  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  which  paralyze  so  many 
strong  arms.  To  decide  was  to  will,  and  to  will  was  to  do.  To 
cite  all  available  instances  of  this  would  be  to  rehearse  the 
whole  of  his  life  story.  One  naturally  chooses  those  which 
have  come  under  his  own  observation. 

During  a  visit  in  the  rented  house  in  which  I  lived  in  Chi- 
cago it  became  evident  to  him  that  a  parsonage  for  the  church 
was  desirable.  \\'hen  this  decision  was  reached  he  said  sud- 
denly, "  I  guess  I  will  go  and  get  one."  Seizing  his  hat  he 
rushed  from  the  house,  and  within  a  few  hours  returned  in  a 
cab.  Springing  up  the  steps  and  bursting  into  the  room  he 
exclaimed,  "  Get  on  }Our  hat  and  show  me  the  house  you 
want.  ]\Irs.  McCormick  has  given  me  the  money."  We 
started  out  and  within  a  few  moments  he  had  purchased  a  resi- 
dence worth  ten  or  twelve  thousand  dollars. 

This  may  be  taken  as  a  sample  of  innumeraljle  instances, 
and,  in  fact,  as  the  rule  of  his  volitional  action.  Dif^culties 
were  nothing  when  opposed  to  the  accomplishment  of  any 
cherished  plan.  They  only  served  to  stimulate  all  his  powers, 
call  out  new  resources,  and  lend  actual  joy  to  effort.  Up  to 
the  very  last  hour  the  exercise  of  these  powers  seemed  unat- 
tended with  anything  like  discomfort.  He  put  them  all  forth 
in  the  same  way  that  boys  do  theirs,  in  that  period  where  they 
do  anything  and  everything  to  work  ofif  their  surplus  energies. 
Those  great  words  which  he  uttered  on  his  deathbed  were  the 
absolute  truth.  He  had  been  "  ambitious  for  work."  He 
joyed  like  a  Titan  in  struggle  and  efTort. 

Upon  these  basal  elements  his  "  spiritual  nature  "  was 
erected.  Perhaps  it  would  be  impossible  to  define  that  ex- 
pression in  such  a  way  as  to  gain  the  assent  of  all  classes  of 
readers.  There  may  be  those  interested  in  the  man,  as  a  man, 
who  do  not  themselves  believe  in  the  spiritual  nature  nor  in 
the  spiritual  realm.  But  there  can  be  no  room  to  doubt  that 
whatever  other  men  might  think,  he  believed  with  all  the  ardor 


33  LIFE    OF     DWKllIT     L.     MOODY. 

and  conviction  of  liis  intense  nature  that  his  soul  was  his  true 
self.  While  he  lived  amidst  visible,  tangible,  and  audible 
things,  he  continually  felt  the  presence  of  that  which  was  be- 
vond  the  reach  of  sense.  An  invisible  realm  was  the  real  en- 
vironment of  his  life.  He  gauged  all  his  conduct  and  his  effort 
bv  their  relation  to  the  life  beyond  the  grave.  Perhaps  no  man 
of  modern  times  has  come  any  nearer  to  being  constantly  in 
that  state  of  mind  by  which  Moses  was  characterized  when  it 
was  said  of  him  "  he  endured  as  if  he  really  saw  the  invisible !  " 
As  a  motive  of  conduct,  it  made  no  difference  whether  he  really 
saw  it  or  not.  His  impression  of  it  was  more  vivid  than  that  of 
the  world  of  matter.  It  animated  everything  and  interpreted 
everything.  His  consciousness  of  God  was  equally  distinct.  It 
was  as  real  to  him  as  that  of  any  other  person  whatsoever  — 
friend  or  child  or  wife.  To  most  of  us.  tormented  by  invincible 
doubts,  this  seems  incredible  and  impossible  ;  but  his  belief  in 
an  car  that  was  ever  open  and  a  hand  that  was  ever  outstretched, 
was  like  that  of  a  little  child  in  the  presence  of  its  mother  at 
the  bedside  in  the  dark.  The  reality  of  the  Saviour's  life  and 
of  his  constant  nearness  was  not  less  distinct,  and  there  was  a 
spirit  —  a  Holy  Spirit,  brooding  over  him  and  taking  posses- 
sion of  him  at  every  moment  of  his  life.  I  mean  all  this  to  be 
taken  literallv.  I  mean  it  to  seem  to  those  who  read  this  story, 
as  being  something  different  from  the  dull,  dreamy,  vague 
feelings  of  the  ordinary  man  with  regard  to  these  great  spiritual 
facts.  The  things  which  to  most  of  us  are  mere  theories  or 
hopes  were  to  him  burning  realities.  They  glowed  before 
his  imagination  like  fire  instead  of  gleaming  with  the  faint 
radiance  of  phosphorus.  We  linger  with  an  irresistible  fascina- 
tion over  the  problem  of  this  power  —  a  power  which  shook 
men  to  the  center  of  their  beings ;  suddenly  disclosed  another 
world;  agitated  dull  consciences;  aroused  slumbering  emo- 
tions ;  brought  to  life  dead  memories,  and  filled  men  with  a 
sense  of  the  realities  of  things  which  they  had  thought  to  be 
only  dreams.  We  regard  it  as  a  mystery  demanding  our  best 
efforts  at  solution. 

The  simplest  way  to  dispose  of  it  was  to  say,  as  he  did  :  "  It 
was  the  Holy  Sjiirit."  He  always  and  utterly  repudiated  the 
idea  that  there  was  anything  exceptional  about  himself,  and 
multitudes  of  his  friends  substantiated  his  simple  theory.  It 
is  easier  to  let  it  go  at  this  ;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  satisfy  our 
reason.     It  is  like  explaining  the  ])henomcna  of  a  vast  factory 


LIFE    OF    DWICiHT    L.     MOODY. 


89 


in  which  enormous  masses  of  raw  material  are  transformed 
into  objects  of  lovehncss  and  usefnhiess  by  saying,  "  this  was 
all  done  by  electricity!"  It  is  true  that  it  was.  This  is  the 
stupendous  force  that  drives  all  the  marvelous  machines.  But 
are  the  machines  themselves  nothing?  Is  it  not  necessarv  to 
explain  the  delicate  mechanism  through  which  the  inscrutable 
force  transmits  itself?  And  is  it  not  just  as  necessary  to  an- 
alyze the  marvelous  organism  of  the  living  man  through  whom 
God  pours  that  resistless  tide  of  energy?  It  does  not  seem 
fair  to  ignore  the  instrument  entirely.  There  was  a  rugged 
sort  of  righteousness  in  that  irreverent  outbreak  of  Ethan  Allen 
when  the  clergyman  was  ascribing  the  power  of  that  great  Ti- 
conderoga  victory  to  Almighty  God,  "  Don't  forget  to  mention 
Ethan  Allen  !  " 

There  are  always  two  factors  —  the  motive  power  and  the 
instrument.  It  is  the  latter  with  which  we  are  now  concerned, 
and  even  though  the  man  himself  refused  (and  with  passion) 
ever  to  admit  that  there  was  anything  exceptional  about  his 
nature,  we  must  be  true  to  our  conviction  that  no  ordinary  man 
can  be  thus  used,  any  more  than  a  toy  engine  on  a  parlor  table 
can  be  made  to  transmit  the  electrical  current  which  propels 
a  hundred  street  cars !  No  more  convincing  proof  of  this  can 
be  urged  than  the  fact  that  out  of  all  the  multitudes  of  men  who 
strove  to  produce  similar  results  not  one  of  them  has  ever  done 
more  tlian  shine  by  a  sort  of  reflected  light.  And  yet  manv  of 
them  were  among  the  most  beautiful  and  consecrated  spirits 
of  modern  times ! 

No,  it  cannot  be  reasonal)!}-  doubted  that  he  was  endowed 
with  numerous  gifts  of  so  high  an  order  as  to  make  him  an 
instrument  capable  of  the  transmission  of  this  divine  power 
(whatever  it  may  be)  to  a  higher  degree  than  other  men.  His 
own  incredulity  and  modesty  as  to  these  gifts  were  among  the 
most  striking  proofs  of  their  existence.  After  his  return  from 
the  army,  where  he  had  performed  some  of  those  prodigious 
efiforts  in  the  Christian  Commission,  he  was  loudly  praised  by 
some  of  his  friends  upon  a  public  occasion.  "  Strike  me;  but 
do  not  praise  me,"  he  exclaimed  passionately. 

One  day  a  mutual  friend  introduced  him  to  "  Uncle  Johnnie 
Vassar."  The  old  man's  face  glowed  with  more  than  wonted 
luster  as  he  grasped  Mr.  Moody's  hand  and  heartily  exclaimed, 
"And  so  this  is  dear  Brother  Moody?  How  glad  I  am  to 
see  the  man  that  God  has  used  to  win  so  manv  souls  to  Christ !  '' 


90 


LIFE    OF    DWIGMT    L.     MOOUV. 


"  You  say  rightly,  Uncle  John,  '  the  man  whom  God  has 
used.'"  said  Mr.  Moody,  earnestly;  and,  stooping  down,  he 
took  up  a  handful  of  earth,  poured  it  out  of  his  hand,  and 
added.  "  There's  nothing  more  than  tJiat  to  Dwight  Moody, 
except  as  God  uses  him." 

I  once  asked  him  why  he  so  persistently  refused  to  have  his 
name  attached  to  the  Clermont  Avenue  Church.  "Why? 
Because  I  am  no  more  than  any  other  man.  And  besides,  who 
knows  but  that  I  may  do  something  to  disgrace  it !  "  Ponder 
the  following  quotation  from  a  letter  written  long  ago  in 
answer  to  a  request  for  permission  to  write  his  life.  "  Now  in 
regard  to  the  other  thing,  I  am  quite  taken  back.  I  have  never 
thought  of  anything  of  the  kind  (a  full  and  authoritative  biog- 
raphy). It  seems  to  me  there  are  so  many  books  now  that 
there  is  not  room  for  one  more.  And  I  do  not  know  of  any- 
thing that  can  be  said  of  my  life  that  would  interest  people." 
And  yet,  within  two  years  after  that  letter  was  written,  he  told 
me  witli  his  own  lips  tliat  he  could  sell  his  l)iography  at  any 
moment  for  $25,000,  and  that  when  he  was  in  New  York  he 
was  offered  $10,000  for  a  two  hours'  interview  by  an  agent  of 
one  of  the  great  newspapers ! 

What  can  be  made  of  such  mysterious  contradictions? 
There  is  absolutely  no  explanation  except  that  of  the  child- 
like simplicity  of  the  man,  and  the  strange  and  bewildering 
vividness  of  his  consciousness  of  the  indwelling  of  the  divine 
Spirit. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  giving  another  illustration  of  this 
modest}'.  I  had  often  felt  the  inuneasurabie  and  unaccount- 
able power  of  Mr.  Moody's  eye.  I  had  observed  with  un- 
bounded astonishment  the  strange  fascination  which  he  seemed 
to  have  for  everyone  who  came  near  him.  Crowds  surrounded 
him  by  day  and  by  night.  In  fact,  it  might  almost  be  said  that 
he  was  never  alone.  People  gathered  around  him  like  moths 
around  a  candle.  They  made  absurd  excuses  to  approach 
him.  They  simply  thronged  upon  him  wherever  he  went.  He 
literally  had  to  shake  them  off. 

The  more  I  observed  this,  the  more  it  seemed  to  me  as  if 
he  must  possess  that  subtlest  of  all  gifts  which  we  vaguely  call 
"  hypnotism,"  and  wondered  if  he  had  ever  thought  of  it  him- 
self. A  most  favoral)le  opportunity  to  ask  him  sprang  out  of 
a  conversation  in  which  he  had  described  at  length  Henry 
Dnmimond's  well-known  hypnotic  powers.     "  Do  you  possess 


LIFK    OK    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY 


91 


this  power?  "  I  said,  looking  him  directly  in  the  eye.  "  Not 
if  I  know  myself!  "  he  answered,  hotly.  "  If  I  thought  my  in- 
fluence was  owing  to  that  I  would  quit  preaching  to-morrow. 
Any  power  I  have  comes  from  the  Spirit  of  God." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  that  such  a  subtle  power  as  this 
may  not  be  one  of  the  very  highest  gifts  of  God,  and  that  it  is 
only  when  it  is  perverted  (like  perverted  eloquence)  that  it 
does  harm  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  it,  and  I  won't  have  anything 
to  do  with  it !  "  he  answered,  with  that  sharp  toss  of  his  head 
with  which  he  dismissed  a  disagreeable  subject. 


T  3  «  ti\=v)-r 


MR.  MOODY'S  STUDY. 


"  But  don't  you  think  you  may  exercise  it  unconsciously?  " 
I  persisted,  determined  to  satisfy  mv  mind. 

"  No." 

"  Did  you  ever  try?  " 

"No!" 

I  could  get  nothing  more  out  of  him,  but  I  was  not  con- 
vinced, and  I  have  never  doubted  that  he  possessed  it  to  an 
enormous  degree  and  used  it  without  knowing  that  he  did  so. 

However  this  may  have  been,  the  fact  which  now  concerns 
us  is  that  he  did  not  consider  himself  a  man  of  any  great  natural 
gifts,  but  only  one  who  had  given  himself  up  as  fully  as  he 


92 


I.Il"!'.    ol"    nWIC.lir    I..    MOODY 


knew  how  to  the  intlucnces  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Early  in  his 
career  he  heard  Henry  \  arley  say,  "  It  remains  for  the  world  to 
see  what  the  Lord  can  do  with  a  man  wholly  consecrated  to 
Christ."  This  idea  took  a  tremendous  hold  upon  him,  and  he 
determined  to  be  that  man  if  possible.  Any  man  in  any  line 
of  work  who  gives  himself  up  with  such  devotion  must  sec 
great  results.  When  he  ha])pens  to  be  a  man  endowed  as  Mr. 
Moody  was,  he  will  see  miracles.  It  is  certain  that  what  War- 
ley  asserted  could  not  be  truthfully  reiterated  since  Mr. 
^Moody's  death. 

To  sum  the  matter  up,  there  are  two  objects  of  interest  for 
the  student  of  this  life  —  the  complex  nature  of  the  instrument, 
and  the  divine  power  which  worked  through  it.  The  scientist 
will  perhaps  care  only  to  analyze  the  instrument  and  the  fanatic 
to  magnify  the  divine  power.  Rut  the  calm  and  reverent  stu- 
dent of  the  mystery  of  existence  will  stand  in  admiration  before 
one  and  in  worship  before  the  other. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Mr.  Moody's  Theology  —  His  Power  as  a  Preaclicr  —  What  lie  Re- 
garded the  Most  Fascinating  Doctrine  in  the  Bible — His  Belief 
that  Things  Were  "  Going  to  the  Bad  "  —  Waiting  for  The  Final 
Crash  "  —  His  Fine  Sense  of  Humor  —  His  Unshaken  Belief  in 
the  Bible —  His  Broad  Sympathies  —  His  Oratory  and  Pulpit 
Power  —  Born  With  a  Silver  Style  in  His  Mouth — Characteristics 
of  His  Platform  Addresses  —  His  Limited  Vocabulary  —  His 
Source  of  Illustrations  —  Drawn  from  Real  Life  — "  Corner 
Groceries  "  in  Noah's  Time  —  How  he  Secured  the  Sympathy  and 
Attention  of  an  Audience  —  His  Intense  Energy  on  the  Plat- 
form—  Conditions  that  Aroused  His  Highest  Powers  —  His  Ideal 
of  Music,  and  the  Use  he  Made  of  it —  Electrical  EfYect  of  Some  of 
His  Sermons — His  Last  Sermon,  and  His  Last  Audience. 

LET  us  now  pass  from  Mr.  Aloocly's  natural  endowments 
to  a  cursory  view  of  his  theology  and  his  preaching. 
His  theology  was  full  of  the  charm  naivete.  It  was 
rather  that  of  a  child  than  a  man.  Two  words  will 
characterize  it  —  "  evangelical  "  and  "  conservative."  The 
greatest  emphasis  of  his  preaching  may  be  said  to  have  been 
laid  upon  the  "  blood  atonement  "  in  the  death  of  Christ,  and 
the  immediate  salvation  of  any  one  who  accepted  the  redeem- 
ing merits  of  his  death,  by  an  act  of  faith.  The  language  he 
used  to  enforce  and  illustrate  these  ideas  must  have  often 
seemed  to  those  who  were  profound  students  of  theology  to 
have  bordered  dangerously  upon  materialism.  He  often 
described  the  efficacy  of  the  "  blood  "  of  Jesus  in  such  a  way  as 
to  communicate  an  absolute  shock  to  those  who  had  accepted 
the  theories  of  the  atonement  propounded  by  such  men  as 
Robertson  and  Bushncll.  But  however  much  his  utterances 
may  have  been  clouded  by  the  difficult  symbols  and  metaphors 
in  which  the  death  of  Jesus  had  to  be  presented,  it  is  certain 
that  it  was  the  dying  love  in  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  the  Son 
of  God  which  stirred  his  soul  to  its  depths  and  enabled  him  to 
stir  the  souls  of  others.     A  very  slight  alteration  in  the  sharp- 

(93) 


94 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


ness  and  literalness  of  his  views  took  place  in  the  passing  years 
and  is  recorded  in  some  of  his  own  words. 

'■  There  was  a  time  when  I  used  to  think  more  of  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ  than  of  God  the  Father.  I  used  to  think  of  God 
as  a  stern  judge  on  the  throne,  from  whose  wrath  Jesus  Christ 
saved  me.  It  seems  to  me  now  I  could  not  have  a  falser  idea 
of  God  than  that.  Since  I  have  become  a  father  I  have  made 
this  discovery:  that  it  takes  more  love  and  self-sacrifice  for  the 
father  to  give  up  the  son  than  it  does  for  the  son  to  die."  As  it 
is  not  our  purpose  to  criticise,  but  only  to  record  his  views,  this 
brief  passage  will  serve  as  well  as  many  pages  to  set  them 
clearly  forth. 

A  second  leading  idea  in  his  theological  system  was  that 
of  the  Pre-millenial  coming  of  Jesus  Christ.  Next  to  the 
"  Atonement  "  it  was  to  him  the  most  fascinating  doctrine  in 
the  Scriptures.  He  was  theoretically  a  pessimist,  believing  that 
things  were  "  going  to  the  bad,"  and  must  continue  to  do  so 
to  a  "  final  crash,"  before  the  Christ  could  come  again.  He 
considered  the  world  a  sinking  shij)  and  that  his  sole  duty  was 
to  save  all  he  could  from  the  wreck.  The  theory  of  evolution 
never  even  appealed  to  his  imagination.  The  whole  world  of 
modern  ideas  rolled  over  him  like  the  waters  of  a  brook  over 
a  stone.  The  conception  of  the  "  shipwreck  "  satisfied  his 
scientific  and  his  theological  ideas  perfectly.  Nothing  but  his 
fine  sense  of  humor  could  have  saved  him  from  being  mourn- 
fully crucified  upon  this  theory  and  sinking  into  an  inert  de- 
spair. It  did  save  him,  however,  and  no  one  who  knew 
him  can  help  being  thankful  for  that  saving  grace.  He  never 
took  himself  too  seriously.  It  was*  this  grace  that  saved 
Abraham  Lincoln  from  despair,  and  Martin  Luther  from  fanati- 
cism. If  Calvin  had  possessed  it,  the  history  of  the  world 
would  have  been  different. 

A  third  dominant  tone  in  the  limited  gamut  of  Mr.  Moody's 
theologv  and  the  one  which  involved  him  in  the  only  contro- 
versy in  which  he  ever  indulged,  was  the  "  verbal  inspiration  " 
ot  the  Scriptures.  He  said,  and  he  firmly  believed,  that  llie 
whole  Scripture  was  like  a  chain,  which  if  it  were  broken  in  any 
single  link,  become  useless  altogether.  The  tendency  among 
modern  scholars  to  take  a  more  liberal  view,  he  regarded  as 
dangerous  in  the  extreme  and  worthy  of  the  severest  castiga- 
tion.  It  was  in  the  administration  of  these  rebukes  that  for  the 
onlv  time  in  his  life  he  said  things  which  might  be  considered 


LIFE    OF    DVVIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


95 


uncharitable,  and  which  forfeited  for  him  a  httle  of  that  con- 
fidence reposed  by  the  people  in  his  infalUble  common  sense. 
This  seemed  all  the  more  strange,  because  in  all  his  previous 
career  he  had  avoided  such  criticisms,  and  put  into  a  minor 
place  all  those  doctrines  which  did  not  command  what  might 
almost  be  called  universal  assent.  There  was  such  a  grim  con- 
sistency and  a  grim  humor  in  his  theories  that  those  who  liked 
them  least  enjoyed  them  most !  To  hear  him  in  some  moment 
of  terrific  intensity  and  conviction  declare  :  "  You  can't  throw 
away  a  part  of  the  Bible  and  keep  the  rest.  Most  of  those  parts 
which  the  critics  want  to  throw  out  are  those  on  which  Jesus 
Christ  himself  has  set  his  seal.  I  am  sure  I  do  not  want  to  be 
wiser  than  my  Master''  —  half  made  the  most  stubborn 
scholars  doubt  the  results  of  life-long  investigations. 

"  I  don't  understand  the  Bible,"  he  said:  "  I  don't  explain 
portions  of  it;  I  don't  interpret  it;  but  I  do  believe  it.  I  don't 
understand  astronomy  or  higher  mathematics,  yet  I  believe  in 
them.  It  is  because  we  can't  understand  the  Bible  that  I  love 
it.  One  can  see  tliat  it  is  God's  w^ork.  There  is  a  length  to 
it,  a  breadth  and  depth  which  w^e  can't  understand,  but  which 
leads  us  to  a  height  which  we  can't  understand  either." 

Scholars  might  differ  with  him,  but  they  could  not  help 
respecting  him.  He  roiled  them,  but  they  loved  him.  He 
was  harsh  against  them,  but  he  turned  around  and  asked  them 
to  come  and  address  his  Northfield  pupils  —  the  greatest  con- 
fidence he  could  bestow.  A  man  who  could  invite  Henry 
Drummond,  and  Lyman  Abbott,  and  George  Adam  Smith  to 
speak  to  those  whose  spiritual  welfare  was  dearer  than  life,  is 
as  broad  in  his  sympathies  as  we  can  ask  him  to  be. 

In  the  main,  his  theology  could  be  found  as  he  told  the 
London  ministers,  in  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah. 

Next  in  interest  to  the  ideas  which  constituted  his  message, 
are  his  literary  style  and  his  oratory. 

In  its  last  analysis,  the  literary  style. of  every  successful 
writer  or  speaker  must  be  considered  a  native  endowment,  and 
happy  is  the  man  who  finds  himself  upon  his  first  appearance 
in  print  or  on  the  platform  uttering  his  thoughts  m  a  way  to 
please  the  people. 

Mr.  Moody  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  born  with  a  silver 
style  in  his  mouth.  His  first  recorded  utterances  possess  the 
same  essential  literary  characteristics  as  those  which  are  the 
fruit  of  all  these  years  of  practice.     It  can  be  best  characterized 


96 


LIKE    OF    DWIC-HT    L.     MOODV. 


as  "  telegraphic  "  —  and  it  was  a  style  unknown  to  TertuUian 
or  to  Blair.  It  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  struggle  of  modern 
men  to  save  time.  The  electric  telegraph  has  compelled  a 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  ten  words  can  convey  as  definite 
and  important  an  idea  as  ten  pages. 

Mr.  Moody  seemed  to  seize  the  idea  that  his  messages  were 
to  be  delivered  over  wires  kept  hot,  and  that  there  was  neither 
time  nor  money  to  be  wasted  in  their  delivery.  Brevity,  ])rc- 
cision.  perspicuity,  were  from  the  first  their  prevailing  traits. 
Words  and  sentences  fell  from  his  lips  with  rapidity  and  clear- 
ness. 

In  passages  of  the  same  length  (about  530  words  chosen  at 
random  from  printed  sermons)  1  have  estimated  that  Mr. 
Moody  uttered  thirty-six  sentences;  Bushnell,  twenty;  Spur- 
gion,  twenty-one;  Lacordaire,  fifteen;  Chalmers,  nine. 

It  would  seem  as  if  such  brevity  would  have  rendered  his 
speech  unmusical;  but  this  was  far  from  being  the  case.  There 
was  a  flow  and  smoothness  to  its  movement  which  gave  an 
actual  pleasure  to  the  ear.  In  passages  of  intense  excitement 
the  sentences  possessed  an  exj^losive  quality  suggesting  a  pack 
of  fire  crackers  set  ofT  by  accident;  but  after  he  had  gained 
control  of  his  vocal  organs,  and  of  his  inflanuual)le  emotions, 
there  was  nothing  of  this  character. 

As  the  brevity  of  his  sentences  was  a  marked  characteristic 
of  his  style,  so  was  that  of  his  words.  His  vocabulary  was  ex- 
ceedingly limited;  but  exactly  adapted  to  his  use.  Among 
his  words  those  of  three  or  four  syllables  are  rare.  He  seemed 
incapable  of  uttering  them.  One  of  the  facts  which  his  old 
friends  recalled  with  roars  of  laughter  was  his  effort  to  master 
the  word  "  Mephibosheth,"  when  beginning  his  ministry.  He 
committed  its  spelling  to  his  memory,  and  on  his  parish  visits 
was  heard  struggling  with  its  pronunciation  —  Meph-Mcphib- 
phib-bo-bo-bo-sheth,  etc."  He  never  attempted  such  a  word 
in  public  unless  it  was  absolutely  necessary,  fearing  them  as  a 
traveler  does  a  ditch  which  is  just  a  little  wider  than  he  can 
jump.  He  did  not  draw  the  line  absolutely  on  every  thing  but 
Anglo  Saxon  words,  nor  did  he  prefer  them  from  any  definite 
theory  of  their  value,  for  he  probably  could  not  have  picked 
out  the  Latin  or  Greek  words  in  any  sentence  he  ever  uttered; 
but  they  certainly  predominated  and  gave  an  intense  vigor 
to  his  style. 

In  a  page  of  530  words.  400  contained  only  a  single  syllable, 


lAFK    OF    inVKllIT    L.    MOODY. 


97 


and  most  of  them  are  Anglo  Saxon.  Many  of  his  longer 
words  were  terribly  shortened,  terminals  like  "  ing  "  being 
almost  invariably  abbreviated  to  "  in".  B.  F.  Jacobs  used  to 
say  that  D.  L.  Moody  was  the  only  man  living  who  could  say 
"  Jerusalem  "  in  two  syllables. 

In  his  earlier  days,  in  Chicago,  an  over-zealous  critic,  who 
was  not  an  over-active  worker,  took  Mood}'  to  task  for  his 
defects  in  speech. 

"  You  oughtn't  to  attempt  to  speak  in  public.  Moody;  you 
make  so  many  mistakes  in  grammar." 

"  I  know  I  make  mistakes,"  said  Aloody,  "  and  I  lack  a 
great  many  things;  but  I'm  doing  the  best  I  can  with  what 
I've  got.  But,  look  here,  my  friend,  yon'z'c  got  grammar 
enough,  what  are  you  doing  with  it  for  Jesus  Christ?  " 

His  illustrations  were  always  of  the  simplest  possible  char- 
acter and  abounded  largely  in  personal  reminiscences.  They 
w^ere  sometimes  classical,  for  he  had  listened  to  so  many  elo- 
quent speakers  that  striking  stories  from  antiquity  became 
familiar  to  him  without  his  having  to  discover  them  through 
reading. 

There  were  a  few  scientific  ones  which  he  acquired  from 
the  same  source,  and  occasional  tropes  and  metaphors  indi- 
cated that  he  had  observed  natural  analogies.  But  in  the  main 
his  illustrations  were  naratives  of  real  life.  As  he  told  the 
story  of  Noah's  w'arnings  before  the  Flood,  he  pictured  the 
scofTers  of  that  day  while  the  Deluge  was  delayed. 

"  They'd  say  to  one  another,  '  Not  much  sign  of  old  Noah's 
rainstorm  yet."  They'd  talk  it  over  in  the  corner  groceries, 
evenings." 

Then,  as  if  in  explanation,  he  added: 

"  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  before  the  world  got  as  bad  as  it 
was  in  Noah's  day,  they  must  have  had  corner  groceries.*' 

When  contrasted  with  Demosthenes  and  Cicero,  Burke 
and  Chatham,  Webster  and  Sumner,  this  sort  of  speech  may 
not  be  called  oratory  ;  but  if  oratory  is  "  just  whistling  to  a  dog 
—  while  eloquence  is  whistling  so  as  to  make  him  come  "  — 
then  this  was  eloquence!  At  any  rate  no  human  being  since 
time  began  has  ever  gotten  the  ears  of  so  many  listeners. 

I  have  been  re-reading  John  Brown's  description  of  a  ser- 
mon delivered  by  Thomas  Chalmers  in  a  little  village  in  Scot- 
land, and  Gilfillan's  of  the  preaching  of  Edward  Irving,  and  the 
best  accounts  of  the  results  which  Finney,  Edwards,  White- 
7 


98 


LIFK    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


field,  and  Wesley  produced,  asking  myself  in  the  meanwhile 
whether  Mr.  Moody  could  be  honestly  compared  with  them. 
Are  we  to  place  him  among  the  great  preachers  of  the  ages  as 
well  as  among  its  great  organizers  and  inspirers?  For  one  I 
cannot  doubt  it. 

He  had  the  physical  capacities  of  a  great  orator.  His  body 
was  robust  and  powerful,  capable  of  enduring  inmicnsc  strain, 
and  filled  with  that  strange  energy  which  al)solute  physical 
health  imparts.  He  also  possessed  those  two  other  qualifica- 
tions of  a  great  orator,  a  piercing  and  conmianding  eye,  and  a 
voice  of  great  resonance  and  command  over  vast  reaches  of 
space.  His  eye  was  a  deep  rich  brown.  It  was  like  that  of  a 
dove  and  an  eagle,  both.  Sometimes  it  charmed  with  its  tran- 
quillity, then  suddenly  blazed  with  an  indescribable  luster. 
Sometimes  it  twinkled  like  a  star  with  humor ;  but  when  his 
heart  was  filled  with  sadness  it  became  sufifuscd  with  compas- 
sion. It  had,  moreover,  the  strange  power  of  emitting  sparks 
of  scorn  for  evil.  I  say  "  sparks,"  for  I  have  been  sometimes 
half  prompted  to  try  to  pick  them  up  from  the  platform !  But 
its  power  to  command  was  its  greatest  of  all.  It  absolutely 
seized  and  chained  men  as  it  swept  from  floor  to  gallery  and 
gave  each  one  of  10,000  people  the  idea  that  it  was  fixed  on 
him  —  like  the  eye  of  an  oil  portrait. 

His  voice  was  also  of  immense  value  in  his  preaching.  It 
was  nearer  to  a  tenor  than  a  baritone  in  quality.  I  have  never 
thought  myself  (nor  heard  anyone  say)  that  it  was  beautiful  or 
musical.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  had  any  of  those  strange  and 
fascinating  qualities  that  the  voices  of  some  great  orators  like 
Webster  or  Spurgcon  have  had  to  soothe  and  lull  and  charm 
the  ear.  The  tone  or  qualit\-  itself  could  not  have  pleased  — 
apart  from  language,  and  yet  it  was  smooth,  clear,  resonant, 
satisfying,  and  keyed  to  give  expression  to  all  the  feelings  of 
which  he  was  capable.  Its  carrying  power,  however,  was  its 
most  valuable  characteristic.  So  far  as  I  can  discover,  the  hall 
in  Manchester  was  the  only  place  which  he  ever  found  great 
difificulty  in  filling,  and  this  was  owing  more  to  its  shape  than 
size.  A  man  who  has  voice  enough  to  reach  10,000  people 
out  of  doors  or  in  has  voice  enough  for  all  practical  purposes ! 

Upon  the  ear  of  the  last  man  in  the  gallery  every  word 
would  fall  like  the  clang  of  a  bell  or  the  note  of  a  lark. 

He  possessed  an  instructive  knowledge  of  most  of  the  arts 
of  oratory,  but  never  had  an  hour's  training  by  a  teacher.     His 


LIFE    OF    I)\\"I(;HT    L.     MOODV.  qq 

gestures  had  a  great  variety,  but  there  was  uo  attempt  to  make 
them  specially  descriptive.  They  were  calculated  to  lend  force 
rather  than  illustration  to  his  thought.  They  consisted  mainlv 
of  the  hand  pointed  heavenward  to  indicate  the  aspiration  of 
the  soul,  or  the  fist  struck  upon  the  pulpit  to  indicate  the  stern 
imperative  nature  of  a  present  obligation,  or  the  swift  down- 
ward stroke  to  show  the  plainness  of  the  truth,  or  the  finger 
pointed  straight  at  a  hearer  to  arouse  his  conscience. 

He  frequently  held  his  Bible  in  his  hand  through  much  of 
the  sermon,  often  adjusting  his  glasses  to  read  in  a  manner 
that  made  every  hearer  feel  "  these  are  the  oracles  of  the  living 
God ! "  ' 

His  first  oratorical  aim  was  to  secure  the  sympathy  and 
attention  of  his  audience.  One  of  the  prerequisites  was  pure 
air.  If  the  ventilation  was  poor,  he  would  order  the  windows 
open  during  the  singing  of  the  hymn  that  preceded  the  sermon. 
If,  in  spite  of  this,  the  people  became  drowsy,  he  would  pound 
his  Bible,  raise  his  voice,  or  tell  a  funny  story !  It  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  speak  unless  everybody  was  aroused  and  eager. 

His  intuitive  discovery  of  any  prejudice  in  the  minds  of  his 
hearers  was  only  equaled  by  his  ability  to  disarm  it.  He  never 
began  his  sermon  until  he  seemed  satisfied  that  he  had  put 
everyone  into  a  mental  attitude  favorable  to  the  reception  of  his 
message,  but  when  this  was  accomplished  he  settled  down  to 
business!  From  the  first  moment  to  the  last  the  fact  that  he 
meant  business  and  not  fireworks,  oratory,  or  theatricals  was 
apparent.  He  was  there  to  convince  and  persuade  men,  and 
for  nothing  else  whatever.  Nothing  could  be  more  impressive 
than  his  determination  to  secure  the  results  he  aimed  at.  The 
evidences  of  a  supreme  and  terrible  resolution  were  manifest 
in  every  move. 

Most  of  us  know  what  it  is  "  to  stiffen  the  sinews  and  sum- 
mon up  the  blood  "'  in  some  great  emergency ;  to  go  down  into 
the  arena  of  the  soul  and  beat  the  reveille ;  to  call  out  all  the 
reserves  ;  to  conscript  every  energy  and  fling  all  against  some 
obstacle.  Mr.  Moody  always  did  this  when  he  preached !  Of 
course  he  believed  that  he  wrought  his  results  by  the  aid  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  he  did.  But  he  wrought  them  by  obeying 
the  laws  of  the  Spiritual  world.  It  is  through  human  nature 
thus  exalted,  thus  in  a  state  of  highest  activity,  that  this  divine 
influence  flows.  Had  he  called  upon  the  Holy  Ghost  without 
thus  summoning  up  the  energies  of  his  own  nature,  he  would 


lOO 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    IMOODV. 


have  been  powerless.  Had  he  thus  summoned  these  energies 
without  calHng  upon  the  Holy  (jhost  he  could  have  produced 
great  effect  upon  men  ;  but  not  Spiritual  effect !  He  could  have 
aroused,  excited,  moved  to  tears,  but  not  to  Heaven. 

He  sometimes  became  terrilile  when  the  current  was  run- 
ning against  him  and  he  could  awaken  no  response.  The  ef- 
forts, physical,  mental,  spiritual,  which  he  put  forth  were  as 
intense  and  terrible  as  those  which  men  like  Richard  Coeur  de 
Lion  have  made  when  set  upon  by  multitudes  of  foes ! 

I  have  seen  him  when  the  expenditure  of  power  scared  me. 
I  have  felt  the  platform  shake  under  the  movements  of  his 
body  —  seen  the  sweat  start  from  his  forehead,  his  eyes  blaze, 
his  muscles  grow  tense  and  rigid,  and  have  felt  as  one  does 
when  a  great  engine  puffs  and  pants  upon  a  slippery  track,  the 
steam  escaping  and  the  wheels  revolving  without  gripping  the 
track.  But  he  always  got  the  track  at  last !  He  always  pulled 
his  load  !     These  mighty  struggles  always  carried  his  audience. 

He  was,  of  course,  like  most  remarkable  men,  dependent 
upon  certain  conditions  for  the  highest  exhibitions  of  his 
power.  Those  conditions  were  immense  audiences  —  im- 
mense choirs  —  immense  excitement  —  everything  on  a  colos- 
sal scale.  When  he  looked  out  upon  a  sea  of  faces  in  every 
direction  he  absolutely  caught  fire !  In  order  to  secure  such  a 
crowd  he  packed  the  people  in  like  sardines.  His  eagle  eye 
could  detect  a  single  vacant  seat  in  the  most  distant  part  of  the 
room.  When  at  last  there  was  a  solid  mass  of  human  life  in 
front  of  him  so  that  not  only  elbows  touched,  but  shoulders, 
when  there  was  an  unl)roken  circuit  for  his  electricity  to  pass 
through,  he  was  ready  to  begin  to  create  the  emotional  condi- 
tions. 

His  unfailing  instrument  was  sacred  song.  He  would 
have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  a  piece  of  music  which  only 
appealed  to  the  sense  of  beauty.  He  could  form  no  judgment 
of  its  value  by  hearing  it  played  or  sung  in  private.  He  must 
see  it  tried  in  a  crowd,  and  could  discover  in  an  instant  its 
adaption  to  awaken  the  feelings  which  he  needed  to  have  in 
action.  If  it  had  the  right  ring  he  used  it  for  all  it  was 
worth.  "  Let  the  people  sing,"  he  would  shout  —  "  let  all  the 
people  sing.  Sing  that  verse  again.  There's  an  old  man  over 
there  who  is  not  singing  at  all,  let  ///;//  sing."  No  matter  how 
long  it  took,  he  would  keep  the  people  at  work  until  they  were 
fused  and  melted.     If  choruses  would  not  do  it,  solos  would, 


LIFK    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY.  iqi 

and  he  always  had  singers  who  possessed  the  requisite  reper- 
toire. 

Having  at  last  secured  the  true  emotional  condition,  he  rose 
to  his  work.  The  joy  of  conflict,  of  leadership,  of  victory,  was 
in  his  eye,  but  merged  in  the  sublime  feeling  that  now  he  was 
to  put  forth  that  mighty  energy  to  make  men  better ;  to  lead 
them  to  the  renunciation  of  sin ;  to  point  them  to  Christ.  The 
joy  of  warriors  in  battle,  of  old  sea  captains  on  the  bridge,  of 
the  trainers  of  wild  horses,  of  artists  painting  pictures,  of  sculp- 
tors carving  statues,  of  statesmen  swaying  assemblies,  were 
flaming  in  his  soul.  There  was  also  something  higher  —  it 
was  almost  the  exultation  of  Creation.  Was  he  not  about  to 
see  avaricous  men  abandon  their  love  of  gold,  defaulters  re- 
store their  ill-gotten  gains,  adulterers  abandon  their  lust, 
drunkards  dash  dow^n  their  cups,  the  captives  loosed,  the 
bowed  down  lifted  up? 

Yes,  he  could  see  it.  feel  it  all !  As  the  words  poured  in 
torrents  from  his  lips  he  knew  that  those  eternal  deeds  were 
being  done.  He  pierced  the  mask  of  those  faces  and  saw  the 
operations  of  the  souls.  He  beheld  Christ  moving  among 
them.     He  forgot  himself  utterly. 

And  now  the  audience  begins  to  feel  the  strange  spell  of  his 
rugged  eloquence  and  marvelous  simplicity.  They  draw  into 
their  hearts  the  great  compassion.  They  burst  into  a  ripple 
of  laughter  at  a  droll  story  ;  they  break  down  in  sobs  at  a  tale 
of  love ;  they  stiffen  with  nameless  awe  at  those  terrible  de- 
nunciations of  sin. 

There  were  certain  passages  in  some  of  his  sermons  where, 
judged  by  the  effect  they  produced,  it  must  be  said  he  rose  to  a 
sublime  eloquence.  I  heard  him  preach  his  sermon  on 
"  Elijah,"  in  the  city  of  Detroit,  wdien  it  appeared  to  me  that 
supernatural  things  were  actually  occurring  in  the  room.  The 
line  of  demarcation  between  the  real  and  the  imaginary  seemed 
broken  down.  That  solemn  hush  had  fallen  upon  the  audience 
which  rests  upon  the  world  before  a  thunder  storm.  You  would 
have  thought  that  every  listener  had  been  nailed  to  his  seat. 
In  the  final  outburst  we  actually  beheld  the  chariot  swoop  down 
from  heaven,  the  old  man  ascend,  the  blazing  car  borne 
through  the  still  air ;  and  wdien  the  impassioned  orator  uttered 
that  piercing  cry  'Wy  father,  my  father,  the  chariot  of  Israel 
and  the  horsemen  thereof !  "  the  excitement  was  almost  un- 
endurable. 


I02  IJFK    OF     DWKWIT    I..     MOODY. 

1  also  heard  liiin  i)i-cach  his  sermon  on  "  Whatsoever  a  Man 
Soweth,  that  shall  He  also  Reap,"  to  2,500  men  one  night  in 
the  Chicago  Avenue  Church,  when  I  am  sure  that  an  actual 
vision  of  a  man  progressing  through  all  the  stages  of  vice,  and 
at  last  borne  away  to  his  doom,  could  not  have  made  all  the 
dreadful  phenomena  of  evil  seem  more  real.  That  was  the 
sublimest  exhibiti(jn  of  the  power  of  one  life  over  man\-  that 
has  ever  been  granted  to  me. 

No  one  who  has  not  heard  him  can  ever  imagine  what  this 
power  was.  No  quotation  can  give  any  impression  of  the  ef- 
fects produced  ;  but  here  is  a  random  specimen  : 

"  I  can  imagine  when  Christ  said  to  the  little  band  around 
Him.  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  Gospel,'  Peter 
said, '  Lord,  do  you  really  mean  that  we  are  to  go  back  to  Jeru- 
salem and  preach  the  Gospel  to  those  men  that  murdered  you?' 
'  Yes,'  said  Christ,  '  Go  hunt  up  that  man  that  spat  in  my  face ; 
tell  him  he  may  have  a  seat  in  My  kingdom  yet.  Yes,  Peter, 
go  find  that  man  that  made  tliat  cruel  crown  of  thorns  and 
placed  it  on  ]\fy  brow,  and  tell  him  I  will  have  a  crown  ready 
for  him  when  he  comes  into  My  kingdom,  and  there  will  be  no 
thorns  in  it.  Hunt  up  that  man  that  took  a  reed  and  broup-ht 
it  down  over  the  cruel  thorns,  driving  them  into  my  brow,  and 
tell  him  I  will  put  a  scepter  in  his  hand,  and  he  shall  rule  over 
the  nations  of  the  earth  if  he  will  accept  salvation.  Search  for 
the  man  that  drove  the  spear  into  my  side,  and  tell  him  there  is 
a  nearer  way  to  My  heart  than  that.  Tell  him  I  forgive 
him  freely,  and  that  he  can  be  saved  if  he  will  accept  salvation  as 
a  gift.    l\'ll  him  lliere  is  a  nearer  way  to  My  heart  than  tliat.'  " 

The  most  wonderful  thing  about  this  preaching  was  that  the 
people  never  seemed  to  tire  of  it.  Through  all  those  wonder- 
ful years  from  1871  to  1899  the  crowds  that  thronged  about  him 
were  as  great  as  ever,  surging  around  the  doors  and  cramming 
the  hall  almost  as  soon  as  the  doors  were  open,  and  all  this 
time  he  was  preaciiing  the  same  old  sermons!  Some  of  them 
had  been  delivered  seventy-five  or  one  hundred  times,  and  he 
finally  ceased  to  care  whether  he  had  spoken  them  in  the  same 
place  or  not,  for  the  people  liked  them  the  second  time  as  well 
as  the  first,  and  the  fifth  as  well  as  the  second.  If  this  is  not  a 
prodigy,  what  is?  Let  those  who  arc  disposed  to  take  this 
man  lightly  remember  that  they  can  move  across  the  continent 
and  no  one  observes  their  progress  or  cares  a  farthing  what 
they  have  to  say  ;  but  whether  it  was  in  Chicago  or  London, 


LIFE    OF    DWIGHT    L.    MOODY. 


103 


San  Francisco  or  Paris,  Mexico  or  Alexandria,  Cairo  or  Jeru- 
salem, thousands  upon  thousands  pursued  him,  until  a  careful 
statistician  has  concluded  that  he  addressed  in  all  not  less  than 
100,000,000  of  human  beings !  For  myself  I  must  regard  it  as 
I  do  any  great  natural  phenomenon.  He  was  an  elemental 
force  in  human  society.  And  he  did  not  lose  this  power  even 
to  the  last.  The  meetings  which  he  held  in  Kansas  City,  where 
his  public  life  closed,  were  in  some  respects  the  most  enthusi- 
astic in  his  whole  career,  and  his  last  sermon  was  delivered  to 
fifteen  thousand  people ! 

And  yet  we  must  pause  here  to  consider  the  impressive  fact, 
while  the  crowds  were  as  large  and  enthusiastic  as  ever,  it  will 
probably  be  discovered  (or  perhaps  it  is  already  acknowledged) 
that  one  element  was  lacking.  The  spell  of  the  man's  personal 
presence  and  influence  was  as  great  as  formerly,  but  the  re- 
sults in  numbers  actually  brought  to  accept  the  ideas  and  the 
life  he  advocated,  had  diminished.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is 
that  the  last  decade  of  Mr.  Moody's  life  witnessed  a  great 
change  in  the  entire  situation  of  the  religious  world.  New 
ideas  and  new  conditions  had  arisen.  \Yhh  these  Mr.  ]Moody 
was  not  perfectly  in  touch.  He  did  not  fully  understand  them. 
This  was  not  strange.  In  fact,  it  was  inevitable.  No  man 
ever  lived  perhaps  (unless  it  was  Gladstone)  who  was  able  to 
keep  pace  with  the  rapid  changes  from  one  period  to  another 
during  a  long  life.  Men  grow  up  into  a  certain  set  of  condi- 
tions, adjust  themselves  to  them,  become  hardened  in  them, 
and  stay  there,  while  a  new  generation  arises  with  new  needs 
and  new  notions,  passes  on,  and  leaves  them  behind. 

Mr.  Moody  helped  to  make  an  epoch.  His  influence  upon 
the  religious  life  of  the  generation  playing  its  part  in  human 
afifairs  between  i860  and  1890,  was  that  of  a  formulative  force. 
He  moulded  thought,  action,  worship.  It  would  be  too  much 
to  expect  that  his  mind  thus  hardened  in  its  habits  of  thought 
and  feeling  should  be  able  to  adjust  itself  to  the  enormously 
altered  conditions  of  the  last  decade.  In  order  to  have  done 
this  he  would  have  had  to  alter  himself,  and  this  was  impossible 
to  a  nature  like  his. 

I  said  to  him  once,  in  1897,  "'  You  are  at  odds  with  much  of 
modern  life.  \\''hy  do  you  not  conform  to  the  new  epoch  ? 
You  were  a  leader  of  a  great  movement  a  generation  ago,  and 
you  are  still  young  enough  to  head  the  religious  life  of  the  new 
age  if  you  will  only  comprehend  it  and  accept  it." 


134 


LIFE    OF    DWKiHT    L.    IMOOUY. 


He  fixed  those  great  deep  eyes  upon  nic  with  one  of  those 
long  stares  which  seemed  to  penetrate  into  my  very  soul,  and 
shook  his  head !  What  1  said  did  not  appeal  to  him.  He 
knew  no  other  methods.  He  could  grasp  no  other  ideas.  He 
belonged  to  the  last  generation.  Some  other  leader  must  arise 
for  the  new.  Pray  God  he  may  come  soon !  Pray  God  he 
may  be  as  pure,  as  great,  as  competent  as  he  who  led  the  old. 
It  is  honor  enough  to  have  piloted  one  generation.  It  was  all 
Moses  and  Joshua  could  do.  This  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
pathetic  facts  of  human  life.  It  is  a  limitation  which  every  man 
who  is  growing  old  shudders  to  admit;  but  it  is  the  most  in- 
evitable limitation  of  all. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

Mt.  ^^oody's  Loyalty  to  the  Regular  Institutions  of  the  Christian 
Church  —  What  Might  Have  Happened  if  he  had  Unfurled  His 
Banner  —  The  Countless  Multitudes  that  Would  Have  Flocked  to 
Him  —  His  Ability  to  Organize  and  Bring  Order  out  of  Chaos  — 
How  he  Supported  the  Regular  Work  of  the  Churches  —  One  of 
Four  Men  "  Sent  Forth  by  God  "  —  His  Last  Meetings  in  Kansas 
City  —  Great  Preparations  and  Enormous  Crow^ds  —  His  Sudden 
Illness  —  "  Oh,  I  am  Much  Better  "  —  Forced  to  Remain  Away 
From  a  Meeting  for  the  First  Time  in  Forty  Years  —  Alarming 
Symptoms  —  He  is  Sent  Home  in  a  Private  Car  to  Northfield  — 
Watching  at  His  Bedside  —  Helpless,  but  Cheerful  and  Hopeful  — 
"What  is  Going  on  Here?"  —  Nearing  the  End  —  Close  of  an 
Illustrious  Life  —  Mr.  Moody's  Last  Words  —  His  Funeral —  His 
Grave  on  Round  Top. 

IN  summing  up  the  results  of  a  long-  study  of  Mr.  Moody's 
character,  I  must  say  that  it  always  seemed  to  me  to  be 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  things  about  him  that  he 
could  never  be  induced  to  turn  aside  from  the  regular  in- 
stitutions of  the  Christian  church,  into  any  side  issue  or  narrow 
sect.  Two  influences  would  naturally  impel  him  to  do  so.  In 
the  first  place,  his  clear  conceptions  of  the  lack  of  fervor  and 
consecration  to  be  found  in  the  ordinary  denominations  ;  and, 
in  the  second  place,  a  natural  capacity  for  organization  and 
opportunity  to  identify  his  name  with  a  great  and  new  move- 
ment. 

At  almost  any  time  during  his  whole  career,  if  he  had 
sounded  the  war  cry,  Mr.  Moody  could  have  rallied  around  his 
standard  countless"  multitudes  not  only  of  disgruntled  people, 
but  of  earnest  and  consecrated  souls  who  saw  in  him  the  prophet 
and  exponent  of  a  higher  Christian  life.  He  always  knew  that 
if  he  should  but  once  unfurl  his  banner  and  summon  these 
people  to  his  side  he  had  the  capacity  to  organize  them  into  a 
compact  and  mighty  association.  For  this  power  of  organi- 
zation was  certainly  akin  to  genius.  The  instant  he  appeared 
amidst  chaos,  it  became  order.  With  a  swift  insight  he  dis- 
covered exactly  what  had  to  be  done,  and  who  were  the  best 

(105) 


I06  I-'^'K    <^>'''     1>\VI(".HT    L.    MOODY. 

people  to  do  it.  W'itli  a  knack  and  cunning-  that  were  simply 
marvelous  he  swept  all  unpromising  agents  into  the  back- 
ground, and  almost  before  any  one  knew  what  had  happened  a 
living  organism  had  sprung  into  being.  If  this  man  had  gone 
into  the  ranks  as  a  private  soldier,  this  capacity  would  have 
made  him  a  general,  and  if  he  had  once  come  into  command  of 
a  great  military  organization,  it  would  have  become  a  fighting 
machine  of  irresistible  power.  It  was  impossible  to  see  him 
manipulating  the  forces  which  he  had  at  command,  without 
thinking  of  Grant  or  Napoleon.  The  indul)itable  proof  of 
this  power  is,  of  course,  to  be  seen  in  the  vitality  of  every  in- 
stitution which  he  established.  There  they  stand,  and  in  spite 
of  the  prognostications  of  critics,  those  who  have  studied  them 
most  intimately  are  persuaded  that  they  are  there  to  stay. 
Some  one  will  pick  them  up  and  carry  them  forward.  They 
have  been  cnd(jwed  with  an  indestructible  vitality.  The 
church  he  founded  in  Chicago  bears  as  fresh  an  imprint  of  his 
hand  to-day,  as  when  he  was  its  pastor  a  generation  ago. 

With  such  self-knowledge  as  he  possessed  he  must  have 
clearly  seen  that  if  he  had  struck  out.  like  Wesley  or  liooth,  to 
form  a  new  society  he  could  have  given  it  colossal  ]M-oi)ortions 
and  have  secured  for  himself  an  undying  fame  through  the 
society  which  should  subsist  to  perpetuate  his  memory  and 
his  ideals.  But  he  deliberately  turned  away  from  this  great 
temptation.  lie  scorned  to  further  divide  the  already  sundered 
body  of  the  Christian  church.  He  decided  that  instead  of 
communicating  the  niightv  iiiipulses  of  his  life  to  a  scj-jarate 
organization  he  would  instill  them  as  best  he  could  into  the 
church  universal  and  be  forgotten  if  need  be.  I'his  we  regard 
as  the  very  noblest  decision  of  his  mind  and  the  noblest  impulse 
of  his  heart. 

His  desire  to  support  the  regular  work  of  the  churches  was 
evidenced  two  or  three  years  ago,  when  he  literally  crushed  the 
proposed  Northfield  Emergency  Fund,  designed  to  send  out 
student  volunteers  as  foreign  missionaries,  when  the  regular 
denominational  boards  could  not  send  them  for  lack  of  funds. 
People  who  have  known  him  for  many  years  and  lurnd  him 
speak  frequently  said  that  they  had  never  heard  liini  throw 
more  earnestness  into  an  address  than  when  he  said: 

"  Some  of  the  people  have  been  scnrling  me  checks  for 
this  fund.  I  want  you  to  call  them  back,  or  1  shall  send  them  on 
to  the  missionary  Boards.     I  am  in  sympathy  with  the  lloards 


LIKE    OF    DWICHT    L.    MOODY. 


107 


and  have  no  synijiatliy  with  the  croakers.  You  cannot  find  a 
better  set  of  men  on  this  continent  than  those  in  the  American 
Board.  You  cannot  find  a  better  set  of  men  than  those  in  the 
Presbyterian  Board.  Where  can  }ou  find  a  l^etter  man  than 
Robert  Speer?  Where  will  you  find  a  man  that  is  doini^  better 
work  than  Bishop  Thoburn  in  India?  Any  man  that  is  work- 
ing as  he  is  in  India  we  will  help.  Dr.  Clough  is  also  doing  a 
magnificent  work  there.  We  are  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
these  regular  Boards.  I  think  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  send 
any  money  outside  of  the  regular  channels." 

It  is  clear  that  Mr.  Moody  affords  the  deepest  problems  for 
the  psychologist  and  the  philosopher.  He  is  no  longer  the 
"  Evangelist  Moody  "  alone  :  but  also  the  founder  of  institu- 
tions and  movements  which  have  shaped  the  habits  of  a  gen- 
eration, and  bid  fair  to  continue  their  influences  indefinitely 
into  the  future.  This  fact  is  not  known  to  the  masses,  and  one 
of  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  by  his  biographers  will  be 
that  of  persuading  men  to  believe  that  he  was  ever  anything 
more  than  a  strolling  preacher !  Sooner  or  later,  however,  it 
will  be  conceded  by  all  impartial  judges  that  he  nmst  be  a  great 
man  who  could  spring  from  the  humblest  surroundings  and 
yet  by  his  own  genius  attain  a  world-wide  reputation  ;  who  had 
only  a  district  school  education  and  yet  saw  the  most  polished 
scholars  of  the  age  sitting  humbly  at  his  feet ;  who  never  de- 
spised the  material  element  of  existence  and  was,  notwithstand- 
ing, one  of  the  most  spiritual  men  who  ever  lived ;  who  walked 
through  a  long  life  on  the  sharp  edges  of  great  dangers  and  yet 
never  fell ;  who  was  endowed  with  powers  of  the  highest  order 
but  never  used  them  for  his  personal  aggrandizement ;  who  was 
the  object  of  most  extravagant  adulation  and  yet  retained  the 
modesty  of  a  child ;  who  passed  the  whole  of  his  later  life 
among  the  rich  and  learned  and  yet  never  lost  his  sympathy 
with  the  poor,  the  ignorant,  and  the  suffering. 

No  wonder  that  in  speaking  of  Dwight  L.  Moody,  Dr.  N. 
D.  Hillis  said  in  part: 

"  When  long  time  hath  passed,  some  historian,  recalling 
the  great  epochs  and  religious  teachers  of  our  century,  will 
say:  '  There  were  four  men  sent  forth  by  God  —  their  names, 
Charles  Spurgeon,  Phillips  Brooks,  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
and  Dwight  L.  Moody.'  Each  was  a  herald  of  good  tidings; 
each  was  a  prophet  of  a  new  social  and  religious  order,  and  each 
made  a  permanent  contribution  to  the  Christian  church;  while 


I08  LIFK    OK    DWIC.IIT     I..     MoonV. 

of  all  it  may  be  said  tiicir  scnnons  were  translated  into  many 
tongues  and  their  names  known  in  every  town  and  city  where 
the  English  language  is  spoken.  For  our  instruction,  rebuke, 
and  inspiration  (lod  hath  raised  up  other  preachers,  represent- 
ing a  high  order  of  intellect,  marked  elocjuence,  and  perma- 
nent influence;  but  as  to  the  iirst  order  of  greatness  there  have 
been  perhaps  these  four  —  no  more.  God  girded  each  of  these 
projihets  for  his  task  and  taught  him  how  to  "  di]~»  his  sword 
in  Heaven." 

"  In  characterizing  the  message  of  these  men  we  say  that 
Spurgeon  was  expositional,  l'hilli])s  IJrooks  devotional.  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  prophetic  and  j^hilosophical,  while  Dwight  L. 
Moody  was  a  herald  rather  than  teacher,  addressing  himself  to 
the  common  people  —  the  unchurched  multitudes.  The  sym- 
bol of  the  great  English  preacher  is  a  lighted  lamp,  the  symbol 
of  IJrooks  a  flaming  heart,  the  synfljol  of  Beecher  an  orchestra 
of  many  instruments,  while  Mr.  Moody  was  a  trumpet  of  nar- 
row range  ]:)erhaps,  but  sounding  the  advance  sometimes 
through  inspiration  and  sometimes  through  alarm. 

"  And  our  sorrow  to-day  is  the  more  in  that  the  last  of  these 
giants  has  gone  down  to  the  valley  and  disappeared  behind  the 
thick  shadows.  Oft  in  hours  of  gloom  and  doubt,  full  oft  in 
days  when  wickedness  seemed  enthroned  in  high  places,  when 
the  rich  seemed  to  be  selfish  in  their  strength,  and  the  poor 
without  an  advocate  in  high  places,  when  good  men  seemed 
weakness  and  leaders  seemed  a  lie,  in  our  depression  we  have 
turned  our  thoughts  toward  the  three  prophets  in  the  English 
Tabernacle,  in  Trinity,  and  in  ri}mouth,  or  toward  the  evange- 
list and  friend  of  the  connnon  people,  and  have  been  com- 
forted by  the  mere  thought  that  things  were  a  little  safer  be- 
cause these  four  men  were  in  their  appointed  places.  The 
first  three  were  conmianders.  each  over  his  regiment,  and 
worked  from  a  fixed  center;  but  the  evangelist  was  the  leader 
of  a  flying  band,  who  went  every  whither  into  the  enemy' ^ 
country,  seeking  conquests  of  peace  and  righteousness.  Be 
the  reasons  what  they  may.  the  common  people  gladly  heard 
the  great  evangelist.  In  his  death  the  unchurched  classes 
have  lost  their  best  fritnd.  For  nearly  forty  years  the  mul- 
titudes have  pressed  and  tln-onged  into  tlie  great  halls  and 
churches  to  hear  this  herald  speak  of  duty,  sin,  salvation,  and 
God's  love  in  Mis  great  Christ.  I5ut,  disappearing  from  our 
sight,  he  is  not  dead.     While  life  continues  for  nniltitudes  he 


LIFE    OF    DWKJHT    L.    MOODY  IO9 

will  remain  a  cool  sprini;-  Howini^-  in  a  desert,  the  covert  of  a 
rock  in  time  of  sorrow." 

It  is  now  time  for  us  to  brinj;-  this  story  of  an  illustrious  life 
to  its  close.  On  the  16th  of  November,  1899,  Mr.  Moody 
opened  a  series  of  meetings  in  Kansas  City.  Great  prepara- 
tions had  been  made.  He  was  at  his  best.  The  crowds  were 
enormous.  There  was  not  a  premonition  of  what  was  to 
occur.  But  one  night  at  the  close  of  a  meeting  he  experienced 
an  unusual  fatigue.  A  doctor  was  summoned  and  decided  that 
the  great  heart  which  had  performed  such  prodigies  through  all 
these  years  was  working  very  badly  and  demanded  immediate 
rest.  This  declaration  he  heard  with  his  usual  incredulity,  say- 
ing to  those  who  inquired  about  it  —  "  Oh.  I  am  much  better. 
Don't  know  just  what  is  the  matter.  A  little  touch  of  malaria 
or  grip,  perhaps.  But  the  doctors  are  bringing  me  around 
all  right." 

But  on  the  i8th  he  was  forced  to  re-main  away  from  the 
noon  meeting.  "  I  regret  it  very  much,"  he  said,  "  for  it  is 
the  first  time  in  my  life  I  was  ever  compelled  to  do  such  a 
thing."  The  symptoms  became  rapidly  more  alarming,  and 
almost  immediately  arrangements  were  made  to  send  him  in 
a  private  car  to  his  home  in  Northfield.  There  he  lay  for 
several  weeks  almost  helpless,  but  cheerful  and  hopeful  — 
ministered  to  by  as  loyal  and  as  loving  a  circle  of  friends 
as  ever  surrounded  the  couch  of  an  invalid.  In  fact,  it  may 
be  said,  that  the  civilized  world  watched  at  that  bedside,  for 
the  bulletins  of  his  condition  were  telegraphed  wherever 
men  knew  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  a  long  time 
the  hope  of  recovery  was  cherished  ;  but  early  in  the  morning 
of  .December  22d  it  became  clear  that  he  could  not  survive 
the  strain.  He  soon  made  the  discovery  for  himself.  "  What 
is  the  matter?  What  is  going  on  here?  "  he  exclaimed  as  he 
awakened  out  of  a  slumber  and  saw^  evidence  of  unusual  feel- 
ing. One  of  the  children  replied,  "  Father,  you  have  not 
been  quite  so  well,  and  we  came  in  to  see  you."  He  well 
knew  what  these  kind  words  really  meant  and  began  to  make 
his  preparations  for  the  last  great  change  by  summoning  his 
family  and  addressing  to  them  his  parting  words.  During 
a  portion  of  the  time  he  could  talk  freely,  and  said  to  his  sons : 
"  I  have  always  been  an  ambitious  man,  not  ambitious  to  lay 
up  wealth,  but  to  leave  you  work  to  do,  and  you  are  going  to 
continue  the  work  in  the  schools  at  East  Northfield  and  Mount 


no  LIKE    OK    DWIGHT    L      MOODY. 

Hermon  and  Chicago."  Still  later  on,  the  stillness  of  the 
room  was  broken  b}-  the  sobs  of  his  daughter,  who  exclaimed. 
"  Father,  we  cannot  spare  you!  " 

"  I  am  not  going  to  throw  my  life  away.  If  Clod  has  more 
work  for  me  to  do,  I'll  not  die,"  he  said  bravely. 

Just  as  the  shadows  were  closing  in  upon  him  December 
23d,  he  opened  his  eyes  and  exclaimed,  "  Earth  recedes  and 
Ileaven  opens  before  me.  If  this  is  death,  there  is  nothing 
awful  here.  It  is  sweet.  This  is  bliss.  Do  not  call  me  back. 
God  is  calling  me.  I  must  go.  There  is  no  valley  here.  It 
is  all  beautiful."  A  few  moments  later,  the  great  soul  passed 
to  its  reward. 

It  was  only  a  few  weeks  before  that  that  he  had  closed  a 
sermon  to  the  students  with  these  impressive  and  proi)hetic 
words: 

"  I'y  and  by  }OU  will  hear  pec)i)le  saw  '  Mr.  Moody  is  dead.' 
Don't  you  believe  a  word  of  it.  At  that  very  moment  I  shall 
be  more  alive  than  I  am  now.  I  shall  then  truly  begin  to  live. 
I  was  born  of  the  flesh  in  1837.  I  was  Ixjrn  of  the  s])irit  in 
1856.  That  which  is  Ix^rn  of  the  flesh  ma\-  die.  That  which 
is  born  of  the  s])irit  will  live  forever." 

The  world  will  not  soon  forget  that  scene,  those  words,  that 
triumph ! 

The  funeral  occurred  on  the  26lh  of  December,  1899. 

The  sun  rose  clear  over  the  mountain,  at  whose  feet  North- 
field  nestles.  In  the  distance,  on  the  foothills  of  the  Green 
Mountains,  patches  of  snow  appeared.  The  morning  was 
frosty,  but  in  the  afternoon,  as  the  friends  gathered  for  the 
service,  the  temperature  had  risen  several  degrees.  Early  in 
the  forenoon  special  trains  arrived,  and  large  parties  on  regular 
trains  came  later.  Several  of  the  older  friends  came  the  day 
before,  and  were  entertained  at  The  Northfield,  which  was 
opened  for  the  occasion. 

At  10  o'clock  there  was  a  brief  service  at  the  house,  con- 
ducted by  Dr.  C.  I.  Scofield,  the  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
Church,  who  was  present  during  those  "  four  glorious  hours  " 
as  the  Friday  morning  has  ])ccn  called  by  one  who  saw  the 
great  evangelist  fall  asleep,  and  Dr.  U.  A.  Torrcy,  the  pastor 
of  the  Chicago  Avenue  Church,  and  the  superintendent  of  the 
Moody  Bibic  Institute  in  Chicago.  Dr.  Scofield  read  the 
ninetieth  Psalm  and  the  fourth  chapter  of  1st  Thessalonians, 
and  Dr.  Torrey  offered  jirayer.     No  signs  of  mourning  ap- 


LIFK    OF    DWKrHT    L.    MOODY.  HI 

pcarcd  about  the  house;  no  crape  was  seen  on  the  door.  The 
window  blinds  were  all  open.  I'eople  entered  the  house  as  if 
going  to  a  reception.  Inside,  after  the  service,  they  sat  in  the 
library  and  parlor  chatting  pleasantly.  Their  conversation 
was  mainly  about  Mr.  Moody,  recalling  incidents  in  his  event- 
ful career,  helpful  words  which  he  had  spoken  and  deeds  of 
kindness  which  he  had  done. 

Shortly  before  ii  o'clock  the  body  upon  which  others  had 
leaned  for  a  generation  was  taken  from  the  room  upstairs  in 
which  it  had  rested  after  being  embalmed,  and  placed  in  the 
cloth-covered  coffin  with  (juiet  trimmings  and  a  plate  bearing 
simply  the  name  and  dates  of  his  birth  and  death: 

2DUjigl)t  %,  a^ootip 

183  7- 1899. 

The  cofifin  was  placed  upon  a  cloth-covered  frame  and  car- 
ried to  the  church,  a  half-mile  distant,  by  thirty-two  students  of 
the  Mount  Hermon  School,  headed  by  the  ofHciating  clergy- 
men and  followed  by  Ira  D.  Sankey,  Mr.  Moody's  associate  for 
nearly  thirty  years,  trustees  of  the  Northfield  School,  and 
other  intimate  friends.  Christmas  greens  festooned  the  gal- 
leries of  the  church,  while  on  the  coffin  and  about  it  were  ap- 
propriate floral  tributes  from  the  trustees,  faculties,  and 
students  of  the  several  institutions  here  and  in  Chicago.  At 
the  head  was  a  pillow,  in  which  a  crown  had  been  worked  in 
white,  with  a  purple  ribbon,  on  which  Mr.  Moody's  last  words 
were  seen.     "  God  is  calling  me." 

An  open  Bible,  with  "  Victory,  I  Corinthians  xv.  55-57  "' 
on  tlie  left  side,  and  "  II  Timothy  iv.  7-8  "  on  the  other,  rested 
at  the  foot.  Palms,  ferns,  laurel,  violets,  cut  flowers,  and 
callas  were  placed  about  the  pulpit. 

Dr.  Scofield  had  charge  of  the  services,  which  began  with 
the  hymn,  "  A  Little  While."  He  then  offered  an  invocation. 
Dr.  Arthur  T.  I'ierson  read  the  Scripture  lesson,  and  Dr. 
George  C.  Necdham  prayed.  '"  Tmmanuel's  Land  "  was  the 
second  hymn. 

After  the  public  services  the  cofifin  was  carried  again  by 
the  Mount  Hermon  students  to  Round  Top,  the  Olivet  of 
Northfield,  and  placed  in  a  vault  just  at  the  crown  of  the  little 
hill,  where  man^■  of  the  best  meetings  are  held  everv  vear.     Mr. 


112  I-IFK    OF    DWIC.IIT    L.     IMOODY. 

Moodv  thouelit  that  the  Lord  niii'ht  return  while  he  was  liviiiir, 
and  he  had  been  heard  to  say  that  there  was  no  place  on  earth 
that  he  would  prefer  to  be  when  that  eventful  hour  dawned 
than  on  Round  Top.  His  remark  was  recalled  after  he  en- 
tered "  within  the  .i^ates,"  and  no  other  ])lacc  of  Inirial  was  even 
mentioned. 

From  this  restinf^-place  one  may  see  his  birthplace,  a  little 
more  than  a  stone's  throw  to  the  south;  his  own  home  for  the 
last  quarter  of  a  century,  about  as  far  to  the  w-est ;  the  seminary 
buildings,  some  of  them  a  minute's  walk  to  the  north;  the  last 
two  buildings  erected  at  Mount  Hermon,  the  chapel  and  Over- 
ton Hall,  four  miles  distant,  appear  across  the  beautiful  Con- 
necticut River  \'alley.  A  prayer,  a  hymn,  and  the  benediction 
composed  the  simple  service  at  the  grave  —  a  grave  which  we 
believe  will  ])e  one  of  the  great  shrines  of  history,  one  that  for 
centuries  will  be  visited  by  pilgrims  from  all  over  the  world; 
for  he  was  one  of  the  few  men  of  modern  times  whose  fame  and 
influence  was  conterminous  with  civilization. 

There  are  many  of  us  to  whom  it  seems  as  if  a  big  mountain 
had  dropped  out  of  sight  or  a  great  river  ceased  flowing.  It 
will  never  be  the  same  world  to  us  any  moft. 

We  rememi)er  the  words  of  Reecher  over  the  cofifin  of 
Lincoln:  "  Dead,  dead,  dead,  he  yet  speaketh.  Is  Washing- 
ton dead?  Is  Hampden  dead?  Is  David  dead?  Disin- 
thralled  of  flesh  and  risen  to  the  unobstructed  sphere  where 
passion  never  comes,  he  begins  his  illimitable  work.  His  life 
now  is  grafted  upon  the  infinite,  and  will  be  fruitful  as  no 
earthly  life  can  be.  Pass  on  thou  that  hast  overcome.  Your 
sorrows,  O  people,  are  his  peace.  Your  bells  and  bands  and 
muffled  drums  sound  triumph  in  his  ear.  \Vail  and  weep  here ; 
God  made  it  echo  and  triumph  there.     Pass  on !  " 


CHAPTER    I. 


SIMPLY    BELIEVING,    SIMPLY    RECEIVING. 


An  Incident  in  }ilanciicstcr,  England.  —  "  OIi,  I  Sec  It  Now"  — 
"  I  Understand  You  Have  Been  Stealing  "  —  Calling  Things 
b}'  Their  Right  Names  —  Two  Men  Who  Saw  What  they 
were  Looking  For  —  Story  of  a  Remarkable  Conversion  — 
Forging  His  Own  Chains  —  On  the  Deck  of  a  Sinking  Ship  — 
"Jump  Into  the  Lifeboat!"  —  The  Man  with  Handbills  —  The 
Story  of  Little  Nellie  —  "  Help  !  Help  !  "  —  A  Wicked  Yorkshire 
]\Iiner  —  "Don't  Cry,  Lass;  Don't  Cry"  —  The  Silver  Key  and 
Tress  of  Auburn  Flair  —  A  Bed  of  Straw  —  "No  One  Cares  for 
Me  '  —  From  a  Dark  Garret  to  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


T  one  of  our  Sunday  meet- 
ing's in  Manchester,  Eng- 
land, a  good  many  years 
ago,  a  great  many  re- 
mained after  the  meeting, 
and  we  didn't  have  workers 
enough.  So  I  went  up  into 
the  gallery  and  talked  with 
incjuirers.  While  I  was 
talking  a  gentleman  came 
and  sat  a  little  apart  from 
the  rest.  I  thought  at  first 
he  was  a  skeptic,  but  when 


DWIGHT  I,.    MOODV,    A  1 


I  saw 
went 


tears  in  his  eyes  I  knew  that  he  was  interested,  and  I 
up  to  him  and  said  :   "  ]My  friend,  are  you  a  Christian?  " 
8  (113) 


114 


A    HAl'PY    ILI.rSTRATIOX. 


"  No,"  ho  answered,  "  but  I  should  hke  to  l)e  one/' 

''  Very  well,"  I  replied,  "  I  will  talk  with  you  if  you  wish." 

I  read  a  passage  of  Scripture  to  him  and  said  : 

'*  Does  that  make  it  plain?  " 

"  No,  that  doesn't  heli)  nic  at  all." 

Then  I  read  another  passage,  and  I  felt  sure  T  should  see 
a  new  light  in  his  eyes ;  and  I  said  : 

"  Does  that  help  you?  " 

"  No,  that  doesn't  help  my  case  at  all.  The  fact  is,  I  can't 
feel  that  I  am  saved." 

"  Oh,"  I  said,  "  I  get  at  your  difficulty  now.  1  want  to  ask 
you  a  question:  \\'as  it  Noah's  feelings  that  saved  him,  or 
was  it  the  ark?  " 

"  Oh,"  he  answered,  "  i  see  it  now ;  good  night,  Mr. 
Moody." 

I  heard  him  go  down  stairs,  and  I  said  to  myself,  "  That  is 
a  little  too  quick  for  me." 

At  the  next  meeting  I  looked  for  him,  but  didn't  see  him. 
I  had  been  looking  for  him  about  a  week,  when  one  .Sunday 
someone  touched  me  on  the  shoulder  and  said : 

"  Do  you  remember  me,  Mr.  Moody?  Don't  you  remem- 
ber the  man  and  the  ark  the  other  night?  " 

"  Yes,  are  you  the  '  ark  man  '  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"Well,  I  have  been  looking  for  you  ever  since;  how  is  it 
with  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  "  the  ark  settled  it.  ^^1ly,  T  had  been  try- 
ing to  save  myself  by  my  feelings ;  to  make  an  '  ark  '  of  my 
feelings,  and  when  you  spoke  of  the  ark  saving  Noah  I  saw  it 
at  once.  Any  one  can  see  that;  it  settled  all  ni}-  troubles,  all 
my  difficulties." 

When  I  left  Manchester  some  time  after  he  was  almost  the 
last  man  to  shake  my  hand ;  he  gave  me  a  good  grip  and  said, 
"  Everywhere  you  go  tell  people  about  the  ark  ;  any  stui)id  man 
can  see  that."  Some  one  has  said  that  a  fly  was  just  as  safe 
in  the  ark  as  an  elephant ;  it  is  the  ark  that  makes  the  weak 


now    HK    Hh:CAME    A    SOLDIER. 


115 


ones  safe.  If  you  are  in  the  ark  that  saves  you;  it  isn't  your 
feelings,  it  isn't  your  righteousness,  it  is  the  ark  ;  and,  thank 
God,  we  haven't  got  to  toil  as  Noah  did  to  build  the  ark,  it  is 
alread}-  built. 

I  iMice  heard  of  a  minister  who  said  I  was  preaching  per- 
nicious doctrine  when  I  preached  sudden  conversion.  l>ut 
point  out  to  me  one  single  conversion  in  the  Bible  that  was 
not  sudden.  Every  conversion  recorded  there  was  instan- 
taneous. If  preachers  say  conversion  is  a  life  work  they  are 
keeping  men  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  We  can  have  in- 
stantaneous conversion. 

When  I  was  in  England  they  did  not  agree  with  me  at  all 
on  this  point.  They  said  conversion  was  a  life  work  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave.  I  said  all  I  could  to  convince  them  of  the 
contrary.  One  day  I  was  walking  down  the  streets  of  York 
when  I  saw  an  English  soldier  coming  towards  me.  When 
he  came  up  I  said  : 

'*  Would  you  allow  a  stranger  to  ask  you  a  question?  " 

"  Certainly,  sir." 

"  How  long  did  it  take  you  to  become  a  soldier?  " 

"  Well,  in  the  first  place  I  made  up  my  mind  to  enlist." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  that's  a  pretty  good  point." 

"  After  I  made  up  my  mind  to  enlist  I  went  to  the  recruit- 
ing ofificer  and  told  him  I  wanted  to  enlist.  He  took  out  a 
shilling  and  put  it  in  my  hand,  and  the  moment  that  it  touched 
my  hand  I  was  a  soldier." 

"  Were  you  a  soldier  before  you  put  on  the  uniform  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  And  before  you  knew  anything  about  military  disci- 
pline? " 

"Oh,  yes,  I  was  a  soldier  the  moment  that  shilling  touched 
my  hand." 

Here  was  a  man  who  was  a  civilian  one  moment  and  a 
soldier  the  next ;  he  could  go  where  he  pleased  one  moment, 
but  the  next  moment  he  had  to  go  where  Queen  A'ictoria  sent 
him,  or  be  arrested  as  a  deserter. 


Ij5  REFORMlN(i    HY    DKGREES. 

A  minister  once  preached  a  very  powerful  sermon  against 
the  doctrine  that  1  was  going  to  preach  about,  and  he  told  his 
people  they  ought  not  to  go  and  hear  me.  The  pernicious  doc- 
trines I  taught  were  sudden  conversion,  and  assurance.  I 
once  heard  a  lady  say  she  didn't  like  our  meetings  because  I 
taught  that  people  could  be  converted  all  at  once  if  they  would 
look  to  God.  I  thought  I  would  like  to  get  hold  of  some  of 
those  modern  philosophers,  and  so  I  told  them  of  a  man  who 
came  to  me  and  said  he  was  in  trouble.  For  some  time  he 
would  not  tell  me  what  his  trouble  was,  but  finally  he  said  that 
he  had  overdrawn  his  accounts,  —  the  polite  way  of  saying 
that  he  had  been  stealing.     I  said  : 

"  Oh,  I  understand,  you  have  been  stealing?  " 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  might  call  it  that." 

"  Let  us  call  it  by  the  right  name.  How  much  have  you 
taken?  " 

"  I  don't  know  ;  I  haven't  kept  account." 

"  Have  you  stolen  a  thousand  dollars  ?  " 

"  I  think  it  would  be  more  than  that." 

"  Fifteen  hundred?  " 

"  Yes,  I  suppose  it  would  amount  to  that." 

"  T  will  tell  you  the  only  way  that  thing  can  be  settled ;  go 
and  make  restitution  at  once,  that  is  all  you  have  to  do.'' 

Now  I  suppose  if  T  am  to  believe  one  of  these  modern 
philosophers  who  don't  believe  in  sudden  conversions  I  ought 
to  have  said  to  that  man,  "  You  stole  fifteen  hundred  dollars 
this  year,  but  don't  steal  more  than  a  thousand  next  year,  and 
then  don't  steal  more  than  five  hundred  the  next.  If  your  em- 
ployer catches  you  at  it  tell  him  that  you  have  been  converted, 
that  it  is  a  gradual  thing,  and  that  you  expect  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years  you  won't  steal  any."     See  how  it  works? 

Take  a  n,an  who  is  in  the  habit  of  getting  drunk,  and  every 
time  he  gets  drunk  it  wakes  up  the  devil  in  liini,  and  he  knocks 
liis  wife  down.  After  he  gets  over  his  drunk  he  comes  back- 
to  the  meeting  and  wants  to  become  a  Christian.  Now  send 
one  of  these  mcjdern  philosophers  to  him,  and  he  says: 


SOMK    (iREAT    REVIVALS. 


117 


"  What  is  the  trouble?     Are  you  a  hard  drinker?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  Get  drunk  every  week?  '' 

"  Yes,  I  am  ashamed  to  say  I  do." 

"  And  when  you  are  drunk  you  go  home  and  knock  your 
wife  down?  " 

"  Yes,  generally." 

"  Well,  I  don't  believe  in  sudden  conversions  ;  I  believe  in 
being  converted  gradually.  Now,  don't  you  get  drunk  more 
than  once  a  month  next  year.  Wouldn't  it  be  encouraging  if 
your  wife  didn't  get  knocked  down  more  than  once  a  month 
next  year?  Then  perhaps  the  year  after  that  you  won't  get 
drunk  more  than  once  in  three  months,  and  the  year  after  that 
not  more  than  once  a  year.  In  a  few  years  you  won't  get  drunk 
at  all,  and  then  you  will  be  converted,  and  yours  will  be  a  happy 
family." 

Don't  you  think  that  is  absurd?  Conversion  is  right- 
about face.  A  man  can't  repent  quick  enough.  How  long 
did  it  take  a  man  to  be  converted  when  Jesus  Christ  was  on 
earth  ?  \\dien  He  said  to  the  man  who  was  sick  with  the 
palsy,  "  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee,"  were 
they  forgiven  ?  They  must  have  been  forgiven  in  one  minute 
when  Christ  was  on  earth  ;  and  after  He  was  glorified  they  were 
converted  a  little  faster  —  three  thousand  in  one  day,  and  Jews 
at  that !  And  not  only  converted  and  baptized,  but  brought 
into  the  church  of  God  in  one  day !  Three  thousand  one  day, 
and  five  thousand  another  day ;  that  is  what  the  Bible  tells  us. 

Another  favorite  saying  of  these  modern  philosophers  is : 
"  I  don't  believe  in  revivals.  I  know  men  who  were  converted 
in  a  revival  a  few  years  ago  who  didn't  hold  out."  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  study  the  Bible  and  see  what  it  says  about  revivals.  A 
good  many  who  were  converted  in  Christ's  day  went  back  and 
walked  no  more  with  Him.  Do  all  the  blossoms  on  your  trees 
bring  forth  fruit?  If  they  did  the  fruit  would  break  down  the 
trees.  Do  you  say  that  a  mother  ought  not  to  rejoice  when  a 
babe  is  born  because  she  isn't  sure  it  is  eoine  to  live?     And 


Ijg  FINDING    WHAT    WK    LOOK    FOR. 

do  you  say  that  we  ought  not  to  rejoice  when  anybody  is 
converted  because  we  don't  know  they  are  going  to  liold  out? 
There  is  not  a  denomination  in  Christendom  to-day  that  has 
not  sprung  out  of  a  revival.  The  Roman  Cathohc  Church 
claims  to  be  apostolic  ;  was  it  not  born  of  the  fires  of  Pentecost? 
Here  are  our  Episcopal  friends ;  they  say  they  are  apostolic ;  if 
that  is  so  they  came  from  Pentecost,  too.  Certainly,  they 
ought  not  to  be  afraid  of  revivals.  I  have  met  Lutherans  who 
were  very  much  afraid  of  revivals ;  where  did  they  come  from 
if  not  from  the  great  revival  under  Luther?  I  would  like  to 
know  where  Wesleyan  Methodists  came  from?  Was  it  not 
from  revivals  under  Wesley  and  Whitefield?  I  should  like 
to  know  if  there  is  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  or  any 
religious  society  worth  having,  that  hasn't  sprung  out  of  re- 
vivals. If  you  ministers  are  afraid  converts  won't  hold  out, 
I  will  tell  )ou  how  to  make  them  a  good  deal  stronger ;  just  let 
one  hundred  of  these  converts  come  into  your  church,  then 
preach  sermon  after  sermon  to  them  and  follow  them  uj) 
individually. 

I  heard  a  story  in  London  a  few  years  ago  that  illustrates 
the  thought  that  men  generally  look  for  what  they  want  to  see, 
and  the}-  usuall}'  see  what  they  are  looking  for.  At  a  dinner 
in  that  city  a  merchant  who  had  recently  returned  from  India, 
and  a  missionary  who  had  also  returned  from  there,  were 
seated  near  each  other.  Some  one  asked  the  merchant  what 
he  thought  of  the  missionary  work  of  Englishmen  in  India,  and 
whether  the  native  converts  remained  faithful  to  their  new  faith. 

"  Native  converts !  "  exclaimed  the  merchant  in  surprise, 
"  I  have  been  in  India  twenty  years  and  I  never  saw  a  native 
convert." 

Every  one  looked  at  the  old  missionary,  expecting  to  hear  a 
vigorous  defense  of  missionary  societies,  but  he  made  no  com- 
ment.    In  a  little  while  he  said  to  the  merchant : 

"  I  understand  you  were  quite  a  hunter  in  India,  and  that 
you  had  wonderful  success  in  hunting  tigers."  Immediately 
the  merchant  straightened  up. 


THK    CONVERTED    THIEF. 


119 


"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  1  have  kiUed  a  great  many  tigers  in  India." 
And  then  he  proceeded  to  relate  tiger  experiences.  When 
there  was  a  hill  in  the  conversation  the  missionary  said  quietly  : 

"  Isn't  it  strange?  I  have  been  in  India  twenty  years  and  I 
never  saw  a  tiger  there !  " 

The  moral  is  simple  :  One  man  had  been  looking  for  con- 
verts, and  he  found  them  ;  the  other  man  was  hunting  for  tigers 
and  he  saw  them. 

We  are  told  by  both  Matthew  and  ]\Iark  that  the  two  thieves 
who  died  on  either  side  of  Christ  reviled  Him  and  scofTed  at 
Him,  as  did  the  crowd.  They  cast  His  title  in  His  teeth.  We 
are  told  there  was  no  difference  between  those  men.  Both  had 
been  in  rebellion  against  God  all  their  lives.  Both  were  led 
to  execution  as  thieves  and  malefactors,  on  the  same  day  ;  but 
one  of  them  was  converted  during  the  day,  and  the  other  was 
not.  Over  one  of  them  came  a  wonderful  change.  W^hat 
was  it?  How  was  it?  What  brought  him  under  conviction? 
I  don't  know  ;  but  one  thing  I  do  know  —  he  was  convicted  of 
sin  and  confessed,  and  Christ  saved  him  and  snatched  him  from 
the  very  borders  of  hell.  How  simple  the  conversions  of  the 
Bible  are !     Simply  believing,  simply  receiving. 

Years  ago  when  I  went  to  St.  Louis  to  hold  a  series  of  meet- 
ings one  <of  the  newspapers  announced  that  it  would  publish 
every  word  I  uttered  in  the  meetings  during  the  week.  Ser- 
mons, prayers,  notices,  and  every  thing  appeared  verbatim. 
Every  word  I  said  was  taken  down  by  two  stenographers.  If 
one  left  out  a  word  the  other  put  it  in.  Everything  went  in, 
blunders  and  all.  And  then  the  headlines  were  the  most  sen- 
sational possible.  One  night  I  preached  on  the  text  "  W^hat 
must  I  do  to  be  saved?  "  and  the  next  morning  the  paper  ap- 
peared with  a  full  report  of  the  sermon,  with  this  headline : 

"  HOW^  THE  JAILER  OF  PHILIPPI  WAS  CAUGHT." 

The  thing  went  on  through  the  week,  and  then  the  paper 

announced  that  it  would  keep  up  the  verbatim  reports  as  long 

as  T  remained  in  St.  Louis.     It  was  the  severest  strain  that  T 


120  AN    IX  TKKi:STFI)    I'KISOXl-.R. 

ever  was  under.  It  was  like  having-  a  Turkisli  bath  all  the 
week.  But  knowing  that  everything  I  said  was  going  to  be 
printed,  1  worked  in  more  Scripture  in  those  sermons  than  I 
ever  had  done  before.  It  was  a  good  chance  to  get  the  Bible 
into  the  homes  of  the  i)cc)j)le. 

A  copy  of  the  paper  about  the  rhilii)])ian  jailer  was  lying 
on  the  Hoor  of  a  St.  Louis  prison,  and  one  of  the  most  hardened 
criminals  saw  the  headline,  "  How  the  Jailer  of  Philippi  was 
Caught."     Said  he : 

"  That's  good  ;  I  am  glad  to  know  that  one  jailer  has  got 
his  deserts." 

He  tliought  l'hili])pi  was  a  town  in  Illinois  across  the  river, 
and  he  began  to  read  the  story  to  find  out  what  the  jailer  had 
been  doing  and  how  he  hajipcned  to  be  arrested.  In  a  mo- 
ment his  eye  fell  on  the  text,  "  IJelieve  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  He  couldn't  imagine  what  that  had 
to  do  with  the  arrest  of  a  jailer,  but  as  he  read  the  sermon  he  was 
convicted  of  sin  and  cried  to  God  for  mercy.  In  the  morning 
a  change  in  the  man  was  noticed  b_\'  the  under-sheriffs,  but  the 
sheriff  of  the  prison  said  : 

"  Burke  is  trving  to  play  the  pious  dodge  in  order  to  get  a 
light  sentence." 

After  the  trial,  owing  to  some  technicalitw  IJurke  was  re- 
leased from  prison,  and  he  tried  to  get  honest  work.  He  came 
to  New  York  for  that  purpose,  but  finding  it  impossible  to  get 
work  he  returned  to  St.  Louis. 

Six  months  after  his  conversion  the  sheriff  sent  for  Ihirke, 
and  he  su])i)ose(l  that  some  old  charge  had  been  trum])ed  up 
against  him,  for  he  had  been  honest  for  the  last  six  months. 
To  his  great  surprise  the  sheriff  told  him  that  he  had  been 
shadowed  every  day  since  he  left  prison.  He  knew  of  his 
iourncy  to  New  "^'ork  and  of  his  straightforward  life,  and  now 
he  wanted  to  appoint  him  deputy  sheriff.  In  a  little  while  he 
became  treasurer  of  the  sheriff's  office,  louring  all  that  time 
I  had  never  seen  liim  ;  but  sometime  after,  wlien  I  was  preach- 
ing in  Chicago,  he  got  leave  of  absence  for  a  week  to  see  the 


A    CHARACTER    REDEE.AfKl). 


121 


man  whose  sermon  had  been  reported  in  the  daily  paper  and 
had  been  the  means  of  bringing  him  to  Christ.  When  I  went 
to  St.  Louis  a  few  years  ago,  on  my  way  to  Mexico,  a  man 
showed  me  two  photographs  —  one  of  Burke  when  he  was  in 
prison,  taken  from  the  rogue's  gallery,  and  the  other  taken  a 
few  days  before  I  was  there.  The  Lord  had  changed  the  aj)- 
pearance  of  the  man's  face  so  that  I  should  never  have  known 
that  the  photographs  were  of  the  same  person. 

In  Texas  I  told  about  the  great  change  that  had  been 
wrought  in  this  man,  and  a  minister  who  was  present  rose  to 
say  that  he  had  been  invited  to  hold  a  ten  days'  mission  in  St. 
Louis,  and  finding  that  he  was  unable  to  remain  the  last  few 
days,  he  made  inquiries  for  some  one  to  take  charge  of  the 
meetings.     Every  one  said  : 

"  Send  for  A'alentine  Burke." 

He  sent  to  the  sherifif  to  see  if  Burke  could  be  excused  for 
a  few  days,  but  the  sherifif  said  that  just  then  Burke  was  in 
charge  of  a  store  containing  a  large  and  valuable  stock  of 
diamonds,  and  he  had  no  one  else  to  whom  he  could  intrust 
this  very  important  matter.  Burke  won  his  way  into  the  con- 
fidence of  every  sheriff  from  1880  until  his  death  in  1895. 
When  he  died  the  city  was  profoundly  moved.  Thank  God  for 
the  daily  press  which  led  to  the  conversion  of -this  man,  who, 
I  have  been  told  by  a  friend  in  St.  Louis,  was  one  of  the 
brightest  stars  won  for  the  Redeemer  by  that  series  of  meetings. 

Many  don't  know  what  freedom  is.  They  are  still  asleep 
and  sunk  in  bondage.  They  are  like  Lazarus,  who  came  torth 
from  the  grave  with  his  grave-clothes  on,  bound  hand  and  foot. 
The  difficulty  with  these  people  is  that  they  are  always  looking 
in  their  own  hearts  to  find  freedom,  \\hercas  it  is  the  truth 
which  makes  us  free,  the  word  of  God.  A  lady  was  telling 
about  going  down  South  a  few  years  after  the  Civil  War.  She 
went  to  a  hotel,  and  the  room  she  was  shown  to  was  not  vcrv 
neat.  She  said  to  the  old  colored  woman  who  attended  her, 
"  I  should  like  to  have  you  put  the  room  in  order ;  I  am  from 
the  North,  and  you  know  the  Northern  people  set  you  free." 


J22  K<)R(;i.N<;    HIS    FKTTKKS. 

The  kulv  went  away  and  came  back  in  a  littk'  wkik',  and  it 
seemed  as  if  half  a  day's  work  had  been  done  in  lier  absence. 

"  Now,"  said  the  colored  woman,  "  is  I  free  or  isn't  I  ?  My 
ole  massa  tells  nio  I  isn't  free,  and  J  j^o  out  anion;;'  de  colored 
folks  and  dey  say  I  is  free." 

A  great  man}'  of  Clod's  people  are  in  the  same  condition: 
they  do  not  know  whether  they  are  free  or  not.  It  is  not  a 
matter  of  feeling.  The  ])roclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln  set 
that  woman  free,  and  so  it  is  the  i)roclamation  of  God's  word 
that  makes  us  free  ;  not  that  we  feel  this  way  or  that  way. 

A  ])aral)le  was  told  by  Mr.  Sjiurgeon  of  a  tyrant  who  ordered 
one  of  his  subjects,  a  blacksmith,  into  his  presence,  and  said 
to  him  :  "  Alake  a  chain  of  a  certain  length,  and  bring  it  to 
me  on  a  certain  day."  The  blacksmith  returned  at  the  ap- 
]:)ointed  time,  l)ringing  the  chain.  The  t\rant  said:  "  Make  it 
twice  as  long  and  bring  it  to  me."  The  blacksmith  made  it, 
and  brought  it  to  him.  'Jlie  txrant  looked  at  it  and  said  again  : 
"  Make  it  twice  the  length,  and  bring  it  to  me."  The  black- 
smith obeyed,  and  after  he  had  made  the  chain  twice  its  former 
length,  he  brought  it  back.  Tlie  t  \  rant  then  said  to  his  officers  : 
"  Take  the  chain  and  bind  that  man  hand  and  foot  with  it." 
That  is  what  the  devil  is  doing  with  many.  He  is  making 
theni  forge  their  own  chain.     W'liat  _\'ou  want  is  to  become  free. 

When  men  are  really  converted  they  turn  right-about  face. 
People  sav.  "  I  don't  i)elieve  you  can  be  saved  so  easily;  I  be- 
lieve we  have  got  to  work  a  little  for  salvation.      1   believe  in 
faith  and  works."     So  do  I,  but  1  don't  believe  a  man  is  going 
to  work  out  his  own  salvation.     .Su])i)Ose,  for  a  moment,  that 
this  platform  is  the  deck  of  a  sinking  ship.     The  vessel  has 
sprung  a  leak  and  is  going  to  the  bottom.     The  ca])tain  shouts  : 
"  juni])  into  llu-  lifeboat!     The  vessel's  going  down!  " 
Hut  I  think  1  can  kee])  the  vessel  afloat  by  pinnping.  and 
so  T  keep  on  pimi])ing:  and  T  fmally  say  to  the  captain: 
"  T  don't  believe  the  vessel's  going  down." 
Now.  that  woidd  be  trying  to  work  out  my  own  salvation  ; 
and  all  the  time  the  vessel  would  be  sinking.     But  Mr.  Sankey 


TIIK    S.MILI.\(i    IIIRISTIAX.  12^ 

\voii't  sta}'  on  the  tlooined  vessel,  lie  just  leaps  into  the  life- 
boat, takes  an  oar.  and  pulls  with  a  will  for  the  shore.  That's 
working  out  your  own  salvation  after  you're  saved. 

There  were  two  brothers  in  London,  one  of  whom  was 
quickened  and  the  other  converted  at  our  meetings.  They  had 
a  brother  in  the  south  of  Ireland  who  was  not  a  Christian,  and 
they  telegraphed  him,  "  Come  at  once,  very  important  busi- 
ness." When  he  arrived  in  London  they  took  him  into  their 
private  ofifice  and  told  him  what  the  Lord  had  done  for  them. 
They  brought  him  into  our  meeting  that  evening  and  into  the 
inquiry-room  and  he  was  led  to  Christ.  That  dispatch  was 
truthful :  it  was  "  very  important  business."  If  you  have  a 
brother  out  of  the  fold  go  and  fetch  him  in.  Do  as  Andrew 
did  when  he  found  his  brother  Peter,  and  as  Philip  did  when  he 
found  his  friend  Nathaniel  under  the  fig  tree,  and  bring  him 
to  Christ. 

There  was  a  man  converted  in  Chicago  who  couldn't  speak 
a  word  of  English,  and  we  had  to  make  use  of  an  interpreter. 
What  to  do  with  that  man  after  he  became  a  Christian  I  didn't 
know^  He  wanted  to  do  something  for  the  Lord,  and,  finally, 
I  stationed  him  at  a  street  corner  to  give  out  handbills.  When 
the  Lord  converted  him  he  was  so  happy !  His  face  was  all 
aglow,  and  to  every  man  that  went  by  —  and  there  were  some 
pretty  hard  cases  —  he  just  gave  a  handbill.  Some  thanked 
him  and  some  swore  at  him,  but  he  kept  on  smiling  all  the  time. 
He  couldn  t  tell  the  difference  between  thanks  and  curses.  He 
stood  there  every  day  for  two  months,  without  a  hat  part  of 
the  time,  and  every  night  he  was  there ;  when  the  short  days 
came  and  it  grew  dark  early  he  had  a  transparency  lighted  up 
on  the  corner ;  and  he  was  instrumental  in  saving  a  good  many 
souls. 

The  best  thing  we  can  do  for  children  is  to  bring  them  early 
to  Christ.  Early  impressions  never,  never  leave  them,  and  I 
do  not  know  why  they  should  not  grow  up  in  the  service  of  the 
Lord.  I  contend  that  those  who  are  converted  early  make  the 
best  Christians.     Take  the  man  who  is  converted  at  fiftv.     He 


124 


A    LITTLE   CHILD'S    PRAYER. 


has  continually  to  fight  against  his  old  habits  ;  but  a  young 
person  has  a  Ciiristian  character  to  form  and  a  long  life  to  give 
to  Christ. 

I  was  once  urging  the  early  conversion  of  children,  and  an 
old  man  arose  at  the  close  of  the  meeting  and  said.  "  1  want  to 
endorse  every  word."  Sixteen  years  before,  he  was  a  mission- 
ary in  a  heathen  country,  and  his  wife  died  and  left  three  little 
children.  On  the  Sunday  after  her  death  the  eldest  girl  came 
to  him  and  said,  "  Papa,  shall  I  take  the  children  into  the  bed- 
room and  pray  with  them  as  mother  used  to?  "  She  was  only 
ten  years  old,  but  she  wanted  to  follow  in  her  mother's  foot- 
steps. The  father  said  yes,  and  she  led  them  into  the  chamber 
to  pray.  When  they  came  out  he  noticed  they  had  been  weep- 
ing, and  he  asked  them  why. 

"  Well,  father,"  said  the  little  girl,  "  I  prayed  just  as  mother 
taught  me,  and  then  little  brother  said  the  pra}'er  that  mother 
taught  him  ;  but  Susie  was  so  young  that  mother  had  not 
taught  her  a  prayer,  so  she  made  a  j^rayer  of  her  own,  and  I 
could  not  help  but  cry  when  I  heard  it." 

"  What  did  she  say?  "'  said  the  father. 

"  Whv,  she  put  up  her  little  hands  and  closed  her  eyes,  and 
said, '  O  God,  you  have  come  and  taken  away  my  dear  mamma, 
and  I  have  no  mamma  to  pray  for  me  now  —  won't  you  please 
make  me  good  just  as  my  dear  manuua  was,  for  Jesus'  sake, 
Amen.'  " 

God  heard  that  prayer.  That  little  child,  before  she  was 
four  years  old,  gave  evidence  of  being  a  child  of  God,  and  for 
sixteen  years  she  remained  in  that  heathen  country  leading 
little  children  to  Christ. 

Manv  years  ago  an  infidel  lived  near  my  Mission  School  in 
Chicago.  He  was  very  angry  l)ecause  T  had  started  the  school 
near  his  house.  An  old  proverb  says,  "  Like  Priest,  like 
People,"  and  you  can  say,  "  Like  Parent,  like  Child."  Ilis 
children  knew  their  father  didn't  like  me,  and  when  I  went  by 
the  house  they  called  me  "  hypocrite  "  and  pretty  much  every- 
thin"-  else  that  was  l)ad.     T  worked  months  and  months  to  get 


THE    ENTERING  WEDGE. 


125 


those  cliildrcn  into  my  Sunday-school,  but  met  nothing  but 
curses  from  children  and  parents.  One  night  we  were  having 
a  boys'  meeting,  and  I  noticed  that  one  of  his  little  boys,  about 
thirteen  years  old,  had  come  in.  At  first  I  thought  God  had 
sent  him,  but  afterwards  I  thought  perhaps  Satan  had,  for  he 
was  sticking  pins  into  the  other  boys,  and  doing  everything  he 
could  to  break  up  the  meeting.  I  kept  quiet,  and  when  I  went 
out  I  said : 

"  Allie,  I  am  glad  you  came  to-night.  I  hope  you  will  come 
again." 

He  felt  ashamed  when  I  spoke  so  kindly  to  him,  after  he 
had  behaved  so  badly,  but  he  promised  to  come  again,  and  he 
came  night  after  night.  One  night  he  arose  in  the  meeting 
and  said  : 

"  Boys,  you  know  all  about  my  home,  and  you  know  all 
about  me.  I  wish  you  would  pray  God  to  convert  me.  1 
would  like  to  become  a  Christian." 

I  said  to  myself,  "  That  is  the  entering  wedge  into  that  in- 
fidel home." 

One  day  about  five  weeks  after,  I  noticed  that  he  was  cry- 
ing. I  thought  perhaps  something  had  gone  wrong  with  him 
during  the  day,  but  he  got  up,  weeping,  and  said : 

"  Boys,  I  wish  you  would  pray  for  my  mother." 

"  Thank  God  for  that,"  I  said. 

After  prayer  I  took  him  aside  and  said  : 

"  Allie,  have  you  ever  told  your  mother  what  God  has  done 
for  you?  " 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  but  I  have  tried  to  show  it  in  my  life.  I 
have  been  obedient  and  kind,  and  done  everything  I  could 
to  please  her." 

"  That  is  splendid,"  I  said,  "  but  perhaps  the  time  has  come 
for  you  to  confess  Christ.  And  now.  when  you  go  home,  won't 
you  ask  your  mother  to  let  you  pray  with  her."  He  said  he 
couldn't. 

"  You  had  lietter  tell  your  mother  what  the  Lord  has  done 
for  vou,"  I  said. 


126  ^    MOTHER    LEU    TO    CHRIST. 

The  next  morning  he  came  to  my  place  of  business  and  said 
liis  mother  wanted  to  see  me  at  her  house.     I  said  : 

"  I  will  go  up  this  afternoon." 

He  said  she  would  like  to  see  me  right  away.  So  1  went. 
A\'hen  I  arrived  at  the  house  the  mother  wanted  everyone  to 
go  out  of  the  room  but  Allie,  herself,  and  me ;  and  when  we 
were  alone,  she  said  : 

"  ^Ir.  JNIoody,  I  sent  for  you  to  tell  me  what  to  do  to  be 
saved." 

"  \\'ell,  what  has  brought  about  this  change?  " 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  how  can  I  help  believing  in  religion 
when  I  have  seen  such  a  change  in  Allie?  Last  night  he 
nearly  broke  my  heart.  He  came  to  me  from  the  meeting  and 
hung  around  as  if  he  wanted  to  tell  me  something,  but  he  said 
nothing.  At  last  I  said,  '  Allie,  you  had  better  go  to  bed.' 
He  still  lingered,  and  finally  I  commanded  him  to  go.  He  has 
been  a  very  obedient  child  lately.  He  started,  and  went  up 
one  or  two  steps,  and  then  suddenly  came  back  and  buried 
his  head  in  my  bosom  and  began  to  cry.  I  said,  '  Are  you 
sick,  Allie?'  'No,  mother.'  'What  is  the  trouble?  Has 
any  one  hurt  your  feelings  ?  '  '  Mother,  I  have  been  trying  to 
be  a  Christian  for  the  past  five  weeks,  and  the  boys  at  school 
laugh  at  me,  and  brother  Charlie  laughs  at  me  when  I  pray, 
and  I  have  nobody  to  help  me.  I  wish  you  were  a  Christian, 
for  if  you  were  you  would  help  me.'  I^hen  he  went  to  his  bed- 
room. I  thought  I  would  go  to  his  room  and  see  if  he  felt  as 
badly  as  he  pretended  to.  I  heard  him  praying:  'Save  my 
mother  to-night.  Have  mercy  on  my  mother.'  T  could  not 
sleep.  All  through  the  night  I  could  hear  my  little  boy's  voice 
pleading  for  me.  I  never  spent  such  a  wretched  night  in  my 
life.  If  you  will  show  me  how  to  become  a  Christian,  I  will 
become  one.     I  don't  want  to  keep  my  boy  back." 

She  became  a  Christian.  She  came  to  my  school,  took  a 
class,  and  within  a  few  w'eeks  every  member  of  that  infidel 
family,  but  one.  were  Christians. 

Two  millers  used  to  kee])  their  mill  running  day  and  night ; 


CHRIST    KNOCKING    AT    THK    I)()(JR.  127 

and  every  night  one  came  down  the  stream  in  his  boat  to  within 
a  short  distance  of  the  dam,  where  he  would  leave  the  boat  and 
walk  to  the  mill,  while  his  brother  would  go  back  in  the  same 
way.  One  night  when  coming  down  the  stream  one  of  them 
fell  asleep,  and  did  not  wake  up  until  within  a  short  distance  of 
the  dam.  He  knew  that  if  he  went  over  the  dam  it  meant  cer- 
tain death.  He  managed  in  the  darkness  to  get  the  boat  near 
the  shore,  where  he  got  hold  of  a  small  twig,  but  the  moment 
he  pulled  on  it  it  began  to  give  way  at  the  roots.  He  ceased 
pulling  at  it  and  simply  held  on,  all  the  while  crying  out, 
"  Help !  Help !  "  At  length  some  one  heard  his  cry,  and  came 
near  with  a  rope,  which  was  thrown  to  him  and  by  which  he 
was  saved  from  death.  Xow  the  rope  let  down  into  this  un- 
beheving  world  is  just  that  little  word  "  believe,"  and  it  is 
offered  to  every  soul,  and  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  just  lay  hold 
of  it.  Give  up  trying  to  pull  yourself  out,  and  lay  hold  of  the 
rope  by  which  another  will  pull  you  out. 

Conversion  is  through  an  unseen  power  —  a  supernatural 
agency.  It  is  the  Son  of  God  who  knocks  at  your  heart  and 
says,  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock  :  if  any  man 
hear  My  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him.  and 
will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  Me."  A  friend  of  mine  once 
said  that  when  Christ  first  came  to  him  He  knocked  pretty 
loud.  The  second  time  conscience  was  not  so  keen,  and  the 
knocking  did  not  seem  so  loud.  When  He  came  a  third  time 
the  knock  seemed  fainter,  and  the  fourth  time  fainter  still,  and 
the  fifth  time  almost  inaudible,  till  by  and  by  the  knocking 
could  not  be  heard  at  all.  My  friends,  Christ  stands  knocking 
now. 

At  one  of  our  meetings  in  London  a  man  arose  and  said 
he  had  been  carrying  on  the  business  of  a  dog-fighter  in  the 
East  End  of  London.  He  had  a  valuable  dog  called  "  Tiger," 
which  had  cost  him  a  large  sum,  and  which  had  won  a  great 
deal  of  money  in  dog  fights.  He  had  a  fight  on  for  the  dog  for 
ten  pounds,  but  a  few  days  before  it  was  to  take  place  a  little 
child  of  his  died,  and  he  concluded  to  go  to  a  public-house 


128  '1'"'^'  jMixer'S  opinion. 

and  try  to  for^2:et  his  sorrow  in  smoking  and  drinking.  But 
on  the  way  he  thought:  "  Well,  there's  Aioody  and  Sankey; 
suppose  1  go  up  and  hear  tiieni  ?  "  He  came  to  our  meeting, 
and  he  went  out  thinking  it  was  all  very  good,  but  it  did  not 
concern  him.  The  dog-fighting  business  was  very  dull,  and 
having  no  sport  to  go  to  he  came  to  the  meetings  again.  This 
time  Mr.  Aitken  was  the  preacher,  and  the  dog-fighter  said  it 
seemed  as  if  the  preacher  left  ofif  speaking  to  the  audience  and 
directed  his  remarks  straight  at  him.  He  slid  down  lower  in 
his  seat  so  that  the  preacher  could  not  see  him,  but  he  only  hit 
hini  harder  than  before.  The  service  being  over  he  felt  very 
uncomfortable,  and  he  made  inquiries.  After  a  great  deal  of 
talk  he  was  enabled  by  the  grace  of  God  to  trust  simply  in 
Jesus,  and  from  that  time  he  was  happy.  But  there  was  his 
dog!  A\'hat  was  he  to  do  with  hiiii?  Every  time  he  looked 
at  Tiger  he  saw  a  terrible  link  between  his  past  life  and  his 
present,  and  he  was  afraid  if  he  sold  him  he  would  only  lead 
some  one  else  into  sin.  So  he  decided  to  drown  the  dog,  al- 
though it  had  cost  a  good  sum  of  money,  and  was  a  valuable 
animal.  This  he  did ;  he  tied  him  in  a  sack  and  drow'ned  him 
in  the  river. 

Wlien  I  was  holding  meetings  at  \\'harnecliffe.  a  coal  dis- 
trict in  England,  a  great  lnn'l\'  miner  came  up  to  me  an.d  said 
in  his  Yorkshire  dialect : 

"  Dost  know  who  was  at  mectin'  t'night?" 

"  No,"  I  answered. 

"  Why,"  said  he,  "  so-and-so  was  there  "  (mentioning  a 
name). 

The  name  was  a  familiar  one.  He  was  a  very  bad  man,  one 
of  the  wickedest  men  in  Yorkshire,  according  to  his  own  con- 
fession, and  according  to  the  opinion  of  everybody  who  knew 
him. 

"  Weel,"  said  the  man,  "  he  cam'  into  meetin'  an'  said  ye 
didn't  preach  right ;  he  said  ye  preached  nothin'  but  love  o' 
Christ ;  an'  that  won't  do  for  drunken  miners ;  ye  want  t'  shake 
'em  over  a  pit ;  an'  he  says  he'll  ne'er  come  again." 


"  GOD  HAS  SENT  THY  FATHER  HOME." 


129 


He  thought  I  didn't  preach  about  hell. 

I  didn't  expect  to  see  the  miner  again,  but  he  came  the  next 
night  right  from  the  coal-pit,  his  face  unwashed  and  with  all 
his  working  clothes  on.  He  sat  down  on  one  of  the  seats  that 
were  used  for  children,  and  got  as  near  to  me  as  possible.  The 
sermon  was  love,  from  first  to  last.  He  listened  attentively, 
but  by-and-by  I  saw  him  wiping  his  eyes  with  the  sleeve  of  his 
rough  coat.  Soon  after  we  had  an  inquiry-meeting,  when 
some  praying  miners  got  around  him,  and  it  wasn't  long  before 
he  cried,  "  O  Lord,  save  me !  I  am  lost ;  Jesus  have  mercy 
upon  me ;  "  and  that  night  he  left  the  meeting  a  new  man. 

His  wife  told  me  what  occurred  when  he  came  home  that 
night.  His  little  children  heard  him  coming  along  —  they 
knew  the  step  of  his  heavy  clogs  —  and  they  ran  to  their 
mother  in  terror,  clinging  to  her  skirts.  He  opened  the  door 
as  gently  as  could  be.  He  had  a  habit  of  banging  the  door. 
My  friends,  if  a  man  becomes  converted,  it  will  even  make  a 
difference  in  the  slamming  of  doors.  When  he  came  into  the 
house  and  saw  the  children  clinging  to  their  mother,  frightened, 
he  just  stooped  down  and  picked  up  the  youngest  girl  in  his 
arms,  and  looked  at  her,  while  the  tears  rolled  down  his  cheeks, 
and  he  said ; 

"  Mary,  Mary,  God  has  sent  thy  father  home  to  thee,"  and 
he  kissed  her.     He  took  up  another : 

''  God  has  sent  thy  father  home;  "  and  he  went  from  one 
to  another,  and  kiSsed  them  all.  Then  he  came  to  his  wife  and 
putting  his  arms  around  her  neck,  he  said : 

"Don't  cry,  lass;  don't  cry.  God  has  sent  thy  husband 
home  at  last."  All  she  could  do  was  to  put  her  arms  around 
his  neck  and  sob.     Then  he  said : 

"  Have  we  got  a  Bible  in  the  house,  lass?  "     They  hadn't. 

"  Well,  lass,  if  we  haven't,  we  must  pray."  They  got  down 
on  their  knees,  and  all  that  he  could  say  was : 

Gentle  Jesus,   meek  and  mild, 
Look  upon  a  little  child; 
Pity  my  simplicity  ' 


I^O  IN    THE    DEPTHS    (^K    DESPAIR. 

for  Jesus  Christ's  sake,  anicn."  It  was  a  simple  prayer,  but 
God  answered  it.  ^^'hile  I  was  at  Uaniel  some  time  after  that,  a 
friend  came  to  me  and  said  :  "  I  have  good  news  for  you.  So- 
and-so  (mentioning  the  miner's  name)  is  preaching  the  gospel 
everywhere  he  goes  —  in  the  pit,  and  out  of  the  pit,  and  trying 
to  win  everybody  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Some  years  ago,  a  man  who  is  now  a  very  dear  friend  of 
mine  was  engaged  to  be  married  to  a  beautiful  girl.  He  had 
everything  that  heart  could  desire;  money,  health,  and  grand 
business  prospects ;  and  in  the  near  future  he  would  have  a  wife 
and  a  happy  home.  In  imagination  he  lived  in  the  beautiful 
castles  he  built  in  the  air,  and  every  castle  had  a  golden  minaret ; 
for  when  we  build  with  the  imagination  we  do  not  count  the 
cost.  All  at  once,  as  though  a  flash  of  lightning  had  come  out 
of  a  clear  sky,  illness  fell  upon  his  betrothed,  and  she  suddenly 
died.  The  shock  to  him  was  terrible.  He  was  a  man  of  large 
heart  and  generous  sympathies,  and  those  are  they  who  make 
the  best  or  worst  men  in  the  world.  Broken  down  by  grief 
he  rushed  into  every  sort  of  dissipation  which  New  York  life 
affords,  —  and  -Cew  York  life  is  very  rich  in  that  sort  of 
material,  — and  he  squandered  an  immense  amount  of  money  — 
nearly  all  he  had.  What  he  wanted  was  to  forget,  and  he  went 
on  from  bad  to  worse  until  he  reached  the  black  mud  of  moral 
iniquity.  One  day  in  the  midst  of  all  this,  by  one  of  those  in- 
stincts that  you  and  I  can  understand,  he  was  led  to  open  his 
safe  and  take  from  it  a  small  package  containing  a  little  silver 
key, —  the  key  which  he  himself  had  turned  in  the  casket  of  his 
beloved. —  and  a  tress  of  auburn  hair.  He  looked  at  them  and 
started  back  in  horror  as  he  rellectcd  upon  the  gulf  that  now- 
separated  him  from  her,  and  he  turned  to  a  companion  and 
asked  if  he  thought  he  should  ever  see  her  again.  His  com- 
panion answered:  "  T  don't  tliink  you  ever  will.  I  don't  see 
how  you  can.  The  life  you  and  I  have  been  living  these  last 
twelve  months  docs  not  lead  that  way.  It  leads  down  the 
other  side,  and  you  and  I  can  never  look  a  pure  woman  in  the 
face  again."     The  poor  fellow  burst  into  tears,  and  wringing 


THE    PRODIGAL    IN    LONDON, 


131 


his  hands,  he  cried:  "Oh,  I  niiisf  meet  her  again.  If  there  is 
anything  in  reHgion  by  which  I  can  get  rid  of  my  past  hfe, 
I  am  going  to  get  rid  of  it,  and  I  am  going  to  right-about  face, 
and  keep  my  eyes  upon  Heaven,  If  she  is  there,  I  am  going 
there  too,"  He  came  to  see  me,  and  wrung  my  hand  in  a  way 
I  cannot  describe,  and  there  was  a  great  resolution  in  his  heart. 
One  Sunday  morning,  while  the  memory  of  that  auburn  tress 
and  silver  key  was  fresh  in  his  mind,  he  joined  my  church ;  and 
being  asked  if  he  would  like  to  go  back  to  the  past,  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  No,  I  have  found  a  home  at  last,  and  I  cannot 
go  back  to  despair." 

William  Dorset,  the  Yorkshire  farmer,  Avas  preaching  one 
night  in  London,  and  in  closing  his  meeting  he  said  tliere 
wasn't  a  man  in  London  so  far  gone  but  that  the  Lord  could 
save  him.  A  lady  missionary  whom  I  knew,  had  found  a  sick 
man  in  one  of  the  most  squalid  parts  of  the  East  End  of  Lon- 
don, who  said  there  was  no  hope  for  him ;  he  had  sinned  away 
his  day  of  grace.    She  went  to  Mr.  Dorset,  and  said : 

"  Mr.  Dorset,  will  you  go  with  me  and  see  that  man,  and 
tell  him  what  you  said  ?  " 

He  said  he  would.  She  led  him  down  a  narrow  street  until 
they  came  to  a  dilapidated  five-story  tenement  house,  and  away 
up  in  the  garret  he  found  a  young  man  lying  upon  a  bed  of 
straw.  He  bent  over  him  and  whispered  in  his  ear,  and  called 
him  his  friend.     The  young  man  looked  startled,  and  said : 

"  You  are  mistaken  in  the  person  when  you  say,  '  My 
friend.'  " 

"  How  is  that?  "  said  Mr.  Dorset. 

"  Well,  sir,  I  have  no  friends.     No  one  cares  for  me." 

Mr,  Dorset  told  him  that  Christ  was  just  as  much  his  friend 
as  of  any  man  in  London.  Poor  prodigal  !  After  he  had 
talked  with  him  for  some  time,  he  prayed  with  him,  and  read 
to  him  out  of  the  Bible,  and  at  last  the  light  of  the  Gospel  began 
to  break  in  upon  that  darkened  heart.  The  young  man  said 
he  thought  he  could  die  happy  if  he  could  only  know  that  his 
father  was  willing  to  forgive  him.     Mr.  Dorset  said: 


132 


RKACHINC;    A    FATHERS    HEART. 


"  Where  does  your  father  hve  ?  " 

"  In  the  West  End  of  London,"  giving  liim  an  address. 

"  I  will  go  and  see  him,  and  see  if  he  won't  forgive  you." 

"  No,  I  don't  want  you  to  do  that.  He  has  disowned  me. 
My  father  would  abuse  you  if  you  should  even  speak  to  him 
about  me.     He  does  not  recognize  me  as  his  son  any  more." 

"  But  I  will  go  and  see  him,"  Mr.  Dorset  said. 

He  went  to  the  West  End  of  London,  to  the  address  the 
young  man  had  given  him,  and  there  he  found  a  fine  mansion. 
A  servant  dressed  in  livery  came  to  the  door,  and  Mr.  Dorset 
was  ushered  into  the  drawing-room.  Presently  the  father, 
a  fine  looking  man,  came  into  the  room.  Mr.  Dorset  held  out 
his  hand  to  shake  hands  with  him,  and  said : 

"  You  have  a  son  Joseph,  have  you  not?" 

When  the  father  heard  that,  he  withdrew  his  hand,  and  said  : 

"  If  you  have  come  to  talk  about  that  worthless  vagabond, 
I  want  you  to  leave  the  house.     He  is  no  son  of  mine." 

"  Yes,  he  is  your  son  now,  but  he  will  not  be  yours  long," 
Mr.  Dorset  quietly  said. 

"  Is  he  sick  ?  "  said  the  father. 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Dorset,  "  he  is  dying.  I  haven't  come 
to  ask  you  for  money,  for  I  will  see  that  he  has  a  decent  burial. 
I  have  only  come  to  ask  you  to  forgive  him  ?  " 

"  Forgive  him  !  forgive  him  !  "  cried  the  father,  "  I  would 
have  forgiven  him  long  ago  if  I  thought  .he  wanted  me  to.  Do 
you  know  where  he  is  ?  " 

"  Yes,  he  is  over  in  the  East  End." 

"  Can  you  take  me  to  him  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

The  father  ordered  his  carriage,  and  they  were  soon  on  the 
way.     When  they  reached  the  tenement  house,  he  said : 

"  Did  you  find  my  boy  here?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Oh  !  if  I  had  only  known  he  wanted  mc  to,  I  would  have 
taken  him  home  long  ago." 

When  the  father  entered  the  squalid  room  he  could  hardly 


K()R(;iven. 


135 


recognize  his  lonj^-lost  son.  He  hent  over  and  kissed  him. 
The  first  thing  the  boy  said  was  : 

"  Father,  can  you  forgive  me  ?  " 

"  I  would  have  forgiven  you  long,  long  ago,  my  son,  if  I 
had  only  known  you  wanted  me  to.     Let  me  take  you  home." 

"  No,  father,  I  am  too  far  gone,  I  am  dying ;  but  I  can  die 
happy  in  this  garret,  now  that  I  know,  you  have  forgiven  me. 
And  I  think  God,  for  Christ's  sake,  has  forgiven  me." 

In  a  little  while  he  breathed  his  last,  and  out  of  that  dark 
garret,  from  a  wretched  bed  of  straw,  his  soul  rose  up  into  the 
kingdom  of  God.- 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    PRODIGAL    SON. 

A  Noble  Character  —  Seven  Cliildren,  and  No  Two  Alike  —  A  Jolly 
Fellow  —  A  Father  Who  was  "  a  Little  Soft  "  —  Trying  to  Borrow 
a  Dollar  —  A  Scheme  of  tlie  Devil  —  Saloon-keepers  and  Free 
Lunches  —  The  Gnawings  of  Hunger  —  "  Use  or  Lose"  —  A  Jew 
Caring  for  Swine  —  Sowing  Tares  and  Reaping  Shame  —  The 
Hardest  of  Battles  —  "There  Goes  a  Tramp"  —  Watching  for 
His  Son  —  Love  Makes  the  Eyesight  Keen  —  The  Forgotten 
Speech  —  A  Story  of  Mr.  Moody's  Early  Life  —  A  Mother's  Grief 
for  the  Wanderer  —  The  Little  Circle  By  the  Fireside  —  Tears 
and  Silence  —  The  Roar  of  the  Storm  —  The  Wanderer's  Re- 
turn—  What  if  there  Were  Two  Graves  There?  —  The  Face  of 
a  Stranger — His  Tears  of  Penitence  Betray  Him  —  Welcomed 
and  Forgiven. 

I  AM  inclined  to  think  that  abotit  nincly-ninc  persons  otit  of 
every  hmulred  start  out  on  their  career  with  a  false  idea 
of  life.  The  prodigal  son  thought  he  could  do  far  better 
away  from  home.  Perhaps  he  didn't  like  home  restraints, 
didn't  like  home  influences ;  perhaps  his  father  was  too  re- 
ligious, and  he  wanted  to  sow  a  few  wild  oats ;  he  wanted  to 
give  loose  rein  to  his  passions ;  and  perhaps  he  thought  he 
could  get  rich  faster  in  a  far-ofT  country.  Perhaps  he  didn't 
tell  his  father  when  he  wanted  the  heritage  divided  that  he  was 
going  away ;  in  fact,  it  might  have  been  an  after-thought  with 
himself;  but  when  he  got  everything  into  his  own  hands  he 
took  his  departure. 

We  are  not  told  where  he  went ;  perhaps  down  into  Egypt ; 
that  was  a  very  prosperous  country  at  that  time,  and  there  were 
some  verv  flourishing  cities  there.  Memphis  was  a  prosperous 
city  at  that  time.  Perhaps  he  did  not  get  on  well  at  home  with 
that  elder  brother,  for  they  were  as  unlike  as  Esau  and  Jacob, 

(136) 


THK    LinKRTY   OF   SON-SHIP. 


137 


or  Cain  and  Abel ;  they  didn't  agree.  One  was  proud,  arro- 
gant, and  conceited  ;  the  other  hved  only  for  the  present,  and 
was  ready  for  anything  that  would  give  him  pleasure.  One 
owed  his  downfall  to  his  conceit  and  self-righteousness,  and  the 
other  to  his  passions  and  lusts. 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  nobility  of  that  father. 
I  think  he  is  one  of  the  noblest  characters  in  history.  He  had 
great  difihculty  in  managing  those  two  boys.  They  were  so 
unlike  that  what  was  medicine  for  one  was  rank  poison  to  the 
other.  The  elder  brother  didn't  want  to  enjoy  his  inheritance 
with  his  father,  because  his  father  didn't  give  him  a  kid  to 
enjoy  with  his  friends.  You  will  find  on  many  of  the  public 
buildings  in  France,  including  prisons,  the  words,  ''  Liberty, 
Equality,  Fraternity."  "  Liberty  "  is  a  fine  word  to  display  on 
a  prison  where  men  are  locked  up  in  iron  cells !  Liberty  is 
just  what  they  haven't  got.  These  words  are  also  displayed 
on  all  their  madhouses ;  a  good  deal  of  liberty  in  a  madhouse, 
with  a  straight-jacket  on !  Liberty  is  just  what  that  father 
wanted  with  these  two  boys,  and  that  is  just  what  they  didn't 
want  him  to  have  with  them.  That  is  just  what  the  King  of 
Heaven  wants,  and  that  is  what  the  world  does  not  want.  He 
wants  us  all  to  be  sons.  That  is  liberty.  That  was  what  that 
father  meant  when  he  said  to  his  son  :  "  Son,  thou  art  ever  with 
me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine."  That  is  just  it ;  it  is  all  there. 
The  elder  brother  didn't  sin  any  more  than  the  younger,  nor 
the  younger  any  more  than  the  elder. 

Let  us  follow  that  prodigal  son.  I  can  imagine  him  down 
in  Memphis.  If  they  had  cigars  there  he  probably  smoked  the 
best,  drank  the  best  wine,  and  had  the  best  turnout  there  was 
in  the  city.  He  was  very  popular.  You  know  most  any  man 
is  popular  now-a-days  that  has  a  pocket  full  of  money,  and 
nothing  to  do  but  spend  it.  Oh  yes,  he  is  a  jolly  good  fellow ! 
I  have  no  doubt  there  were  many  mothers  down  there  in 
Memphis  who  were  glad  to  introduce  this  young  man  to  their 
daughters.  He  moved  in  the  best  society.  Ah,  a  rich  man's 
son  from  Palestine!     Nothing  to  do  and  plenty  of  money! 


138 


A    r.REAT    MISTAKE. 


I  don't  believe  there  is  anything  that  will  ruin  a  man  much 
quicker  than  idleness.  I  believe  that  the  command  to  work 
six  days  and  rest  on  the  seventh  is  binding  on  us  yet.  I  have 
great  respect  for  a  man  that  makes  something  out  of  himself. 
A  rich  man's  son  doesn't  have  an  even  chance  in  this  world. 
The  father  earns  money  and  lays  it  away  for  the  son,  and  he 
generally  contrives  to  spend  it ;  he  doesn't  have  a  chance  to  use 
and  improve  the  talent  that  is  in  him.  I  was  once  asked  what 
I  thought  possessed  a  certain  rich  man  to  blow  his  brains  out ; 
and  I  said,  "  He  hadn't  anything  else  to  do."  He  had  plunged 
into  all  kinds  of  pleasure,  and  he  had  sampled  the  world 
through  and  through,  and  then  he  had  nothing  else  to  do  but 
to  kill  himself.  A  young  man  who  has  nothing  to  do  is  the 
devil's  playfellow. 

I  can't  conceive  of  a  greater  mistake  a  rich  man  can  make 
than  to  pile  up  wealth  and  leave  it  to  his  sons ;  you  had  better 
be  your  own  executor,  and  dispose  of  your  property  before  you 
die.  I  have  got  two  sons,  and  I  think  if  the  youngest  should 
say  to  me,  "  Father,  you  just  divide  w-ith  me,"  I  would  say, 
"  If  you  want  money,  wait  until  you  earn  it." 

I  think  the  father  of  the  prodigal  son  was  a  little  soft  to  give 
the  boy,  while  he  lived,  his  own  inheritance.  It  don't  take  a 
young  man  a  great  while  to  spend  a  large  amount  of  money 
with  gamblers  and  harlots.  It  don't  take  long  to  spend  money 
anyhow.  Most  any  one  can  do  that ;  it  don't  even  require 
brains  to  spend  money.  The  prodigal  son  squandered  it  very 
lavishly ;  I  suppose  that  the  people  with  whom  he  spent  it 
called  him  a  very  liberal  young  man. 

Perhaps  five  years  go  by,  and  then  he  has  got  to  the  "  end 
of  his  rope,"  as  they  say,  and  his  money  is  all  gone.  When 
a  man's  money  is  gone  his  so-called  friends  drop  off  very  fast. 
If  a  man  or  woman  has  friends  who  are  friends  merely  on 
account  of  their  position  in  society,  their  friendship  is  good  for 
nothing.  This  young  man  found  that  out.  When  his  money 
was  all  squandered  he  was  in  great  distress,  and  all  his  so-called 
friends  left  him.     I  can  imagine  him  going  to  one  of  them  who 


THE    PRODIGAL    IN    WANT. 


139 


had  liclpcd  him  to  spend  his  money,  and  trying  to  borrow  a 
dollar ;  and  his  former  friend  laughs  at  him  and  says,  "  Why,  I 
wouldn't  lend  you  a  cent,  you  stupid  fellow  !  You  came  down 
here  with  thousands,  and  you  have  gone  through  the  whole 
of  it."     That  is  taking  place  all  the  time. 

Let  a  young  man  go  to  a  great  city  and  spend  his  money 
very  fast,  and  when  it  is  all  gone  let  him  go  to  the  men  that 
helped  ruin  him,  and  they  will  just  kick  him  out.  They  do ! 
I  have  seen  it  !  Saloon-keepers  strip  a  man  ;  when  he  has  no 
more  money  to  give  them  they  kick  him  out  !  The  devil  never 
gives  !  In  a  good  itj^any  saloons  they  have  free  lunches.  That 
is  only  a  dodge  of  the  devil  to  entice  you  in  there.  Just  go  in 
there  a  few  days  and  take  a  free  lunch,  and  the  next  thing  you 
know  you  are  buying  their  whiskey. 

If  they  had  pawnbrokers  in  Memphis  at  that  time,  you 
might  see  the  prodigal  son  going  to  the  pawnshops ;  perhaps 
that  is  the  way  he  got  rid  of  the  ring  that  was  the  sign  of  son- 
ship  ;  he  didn't  have  the  ring  when  he  came  back.  His  good 
clothes  were  all  gone ;  he  had  either  pawned  them  or  dis- 
posed of  them  in  some  other  way. 

About  that  time  a  mighty  famine  arose  in  that  land,  and  he 
began  to  be  in  want.  He  had  never  known  what  it  was  to  be 
in  want  before ;  but  now  he  began  to  feel  the  gnawings  of 
hunger.  There  was  one  redeeming  feature  about  him ;  he 
wouldn't  beg,  and  he  wouldn't  steal.  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
hope  for  a  young  man  who  won't  beg  or  steal. 

He  began  to  look  around  to  find  something  to  do.  A  good 
many  young  men  have  come  to  me  to  get  something  to  do  — 
prodigals,  and  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  them.  They  are 
good  for  nothing!  If  a  merchant  should  put  them  behind  a 
counter  in  his  store  they  couldn't  do  anything.  Why,  put 
them  behind  a  bar  in  one  of  these  saloons,  and  they  would  drink 
so  much  liquor  a  saloon-keeper  wouldn't  have  them.  Cer- 
tamly  they  couldn't  work  with  a  pickaxe  or  a  shovel,  because 
their  arms  are  as  soft  and  their  flesh  as  flabby  as  a  baby's  ;  they 
couldn't  earn  their  salt  bv  manual  labor.     Put  them  out  in  the 


I40 


FAiMISHED    AND    FRIENDLESS. 


woods  to  chop  wood,  and  they  wouldn't  chop  enough  to  keep 
themselves  warm  !  I  think  it  was  a  good  thing  for  the  prodigal 
son  when  he  was  compelled  to  do  something.  God's  law  is 
"  Use  or  lose."  If  a  man  does  not  use  what  God  has  given 
him  he  will  lose  what  he  has. 

This  young  man  had  been  living  in  idleness;  what  was  lie 
good  for?  Thank  God,  he  found  work,  but  the  meanest  work 
that  a  Jew  could  do !  Did  you  ever  see  a  Jew  taking  care  of 
swine?  No,  you  never  did.  I  tell  you,  it  is  pretty  hard  work 
to  get  a  Jew  to  take  care  of  swine.  Yet,  here  was  a  rich  man's 
son  from  Palestine  in  that  far  country,  and  his  job  was  to  gather 
husks  and  care  for  and  feed  swine!  Pretty  low,  wasn't  it? 
But  that  is  better  than  begging ;  it  is  better  than  stealing. 
There  is  a  chance  for  a  man  who  will  carry  in  coal  and  shovel 
snow!  There  is  hope  for  that  man.  I  believe  there  is  a  chance 
for  any  man  to  rise  when  he  is  willing  to  earn  his  bread  by  the 
sweat  of  his  brow. 

"  And  he  would  fain  have  filled  his  belly  with  the  husks 
that  the  swine  did  eat."  The  devil  gets  a  good  grip  before  he 
pulls  a  man  down  ;  and  when  he  gets  him  down  how  he  holds 
him,  and  he  w-on't  let  him  up.  Talk  about  aiding  tramps! 
When  this  young  man  was  hungry  no  one  gave  to  him.  That 
brought  him  to  his  senses.  I  honestly  believe  we  make  a  great 
mistake  in  giving  tramps  and  footpads  aid.  I  believe  that  the 
best  thing  for  them  is  to  let  them  come  to  want,  so  that  they 
will  come  to  themselves.  As  long  as  they  can  get  food  for  the 
mere  asking  they  will  tramp  all  around  the  country.  If  the 
prodigal  son's  father  had  sent  him  money  every  thirty  days  he 
never  would  have  returned  home ;  it  is  a  good  thing  that  he 
got  to  the  end  of  his  own  resources.  Then  he  had  to  think. 
It  is  a  grand  thing  to  get  men  to  thinking.  If  he  had  stopped 
to  tliink  in  the  first  place  he  ])robably  never  would  have  left 
home;  he  wouldn't  have  s(|uandere(l  his  property  the  way  he 
did.  That  is  the  trouble  with  people ;  they  rush  madly  into  all 
kinds  of  vice  and  sin  :  tliey  don't  stop  to  think.  They  believe 
they  can  sow  to  the  wind  and  not  reap  the  whirlwind  ;  they 


MEMORIES    OF    HOME. 


141 


think  they  can  sow  to  the  flesh  and  reap  from  the  Spirit;  that 
they  can  sow  tares  and  reap  wheat.  They  think  they  can  sow 
these  things  and  affect  nobody  but  themselves ;  but  if  I  sow 
tares  I  have  got  to  reap  shame  for  my  wliole  family ! 

Well,  after  the  prodigal  had  fed  the  swine  that  morning,  he 
leaned  his  head  upon  his  hands,  as  Elijah  did  when  he  came 
from  Carmel  and  sat  under  the  juniper  tree,  and  began  to 
think.  His  mind  traveled  back  into  the  past,  and  he  thought 
of  the  home  he  left  in  the  Valley  of  the  Jordan.  He  heard  the 
murmuring  of  the  breeze  through  the  great  shade  trees  on  the 
banks  of  the  brook  where  he  used  to  play ;  he  thought  of  the 
good  times  that  he  used  to  have  there  with  his  brother.  Then 
he  thought  of  his  mother  and  how  she  tried  to  direct  his  steps, 
and  how  she  taught  him  to  pray  at  her  knee  in  his  early  boy- 
hood. Then  he  thought  of  his  father ;  and  the  thought  dawned 
on  him,  "  I  don't  believe  there  is  any  one  in  the  wide  world  who 
loves  me  like  my  father.  I  didn't  think  so  v;hen  I  left  home, 
but  I  don't  find  any  one  down  here  in  Egypt  who  takes  half 
as  much  interest  in  me  as  my  father  did.  I  remember  that 
every  night  and  morning  he  used  to  pray  for  both  of  us  bovs. 
I  remember  w^hen  he  prayed  the  last  morning  I  left  home,  and 
how  he  broke  down  and  couldn't  finish  his  prayer.  I  re- 
member when  he  shook  hands  with  me  at  the  gate,  he  held  my 
hand,  and  I  saw  his  chin  quiver  and  the  tears  trickled  down  his 
cheeks  as  he  said,  '  My  heart  is  l^reaking ;  I  hope  you  won't  be 
gone  long.'  I  believe  my  father  loves  me  better  than  any- 
body else.  If  I  should  die  here  I  don't  know  that  anybody 
would  bury  mc ;  perhaps  they  would  leave  me  to  the  swine." 
Do  you  know,  that  is  the  greatest  battle  that  a  man  ever 
fought  ? 

Then  came  the  question,  "  Shall  I  go  home?  I  can't  go  in 
these  rags ;  I  am  ashamed  to  go  as  I  am  ;  I  wish  I  was  in  better 
condition.  If  I  go  home  looking  like  this  what  will  my  old 
schoolmates  and  neighbors  say?  They  won't  recognize  me. 
AMien  I  left  home  five  years  ago  I  had  my  ring,  the  sign  of  son- 
ship,  and  I  had  good  shoes,  and  good  clothes,  and  plenty  of 


142 


CONoUEklXC    HIS    I'RIDK. 


them.  Now.  I  have  no  shoes,  no  rinj^-.  and  my  clothes  are  in 
rag;s ;  if  I  go  back  as  I  am  everyone  will  look  down  upon  nie.'' 

Then  pride  rose  up  and  said,  "  No,  you  can't  go  home." 
The  worst  enemy  we  have  to  overcome  is  this  cursed  pride  in 
our  own  hearts,  and  the  hardest  thing  that  young  man  had  to 
do  was  to  conquer  his  pride.  Do  you  know  what  pride  made 
him  do  and  what  he  lost  ?  I  will  tell  you.  It  is  a  good  thing  to 
take  an  inventory  of  what  the  prodigal  son  lost.  He  lost 
all  his  money,  and  all  his  so-called  friends  in  that  far-ofif 
country.  He  lost  his  testimony.  There  wasn't  a  man  in  that 
country  that  would  believe  that  he  was  a  son  of  a  rich  man.  I 
suppose  some  of  the  people  who  lived  in  the  high  places  of  that 
country  passed  him  by  unnoticed,  when  they  saw  him  in  his 
rags  among  the  swine.     And  one  would  say  to  another : 

"  Look  at  that  poor  wretch !  " 

"  Call  me  a  wretch?  I  am  the  son  of  a  rich  man  in  Pales- 
tine." 

"  Yes,  you  look  like  a  rich  man's  son !  " 

He  had  lost  his  testimony,  and  nobody  would  believe  him. 
He  had  lost  his  character.  He  might  have  l^rought  a  pocket- 
ful of  good  letters  from  home  when  he  left  there,  but  his  char- 
acter was  now  all  gone,  his  reputation  was  blasted,  and  his  good 
name  tarnished.  He  had  no  food,  no  ring,  no  robe,  no  shoes, 
and  his  time  had  been  wasted.  I  tell  you  when  you  serve  Satan 
your  time  is  lost ! 

But  there  is  one  thing  he  never  lost  —  thank  God  for  that! 
—  he  never  lost  his  father's  love,  and  that  is  what  brought  him 
home.  That  father  loved  his  son  all  the  while  he  was  gone, 
and  he  loved  him  just  as  much  as  he  ever  did;  the  son  hadn't 
got  away  from  his  father  love,  but  while  he  was  gone  he  didn't 
get  the  benefit  of  it.  God  loves  you,  but  you  don't  get  the 
benefit  of  His  love,  because  you  have  gone  away  from  Him. 
When  the  truth  began  to  dawn  upon  the  prodigal  that  his 
father  loved  him  it  brought  him  back  to  his  home. 

Oh,  prodigal!  if  you  would  come  back,  I  believe  the  news 
would  sweep  around  the  throne  of  God.     One  of  the  sweetest 


rRAVIN(;    FOR    THK    ABSENT    SON.  143 

chapters  in  the  Bil^le  to  nic  is  that  chapter  that  tells  what 
causes  joy  in  heaven  —  that  a  prodigal  has  made  up  his  mind 
that  he  will  come  back  to  the  Father  who  loves  him  so.  It 
was  a  very  hard  thing  for  the  young  man  to  make  up  his  mind 
to  return ;  his  pride  rebelled  against  it ;  but  when  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  do  it  then  it  was  that  he  found  the  way  had  become 
easy,  and  the  light  of  heaven  flashed  across  his  path  and  showed 
him  the  way  home. 

If  you  had  gone  into  that  home  a  week  before  the  prodigal 
son  came  back  you  would  have  learned  that  his  father  loved 
him  just  as  much  as  ever  he  did.  If  you  had  been  there  at 
morning  prayers  you  would  have  heard  him  pray,  not  only  for 
that  elder  son,  the  first  born,  and  for  his  servants,  but  before  he 
finished  his  morning  worship  you  would  have  heard  him  pray 
for  his  absent  son.  If  you  had  asked  the  servants  to  whom 
their  master  referred  in  his  prayer,  they  would  have  said : 

"  To  his  absent  son." 

"  Do  you  mean  that  he  has  two  sons  ?  " 

"  Yes,  the  younger  son  came  of  age,  and  his  father  gave 
him  his  portion  of  the  inheritance.  He  left  home,  and  since 
then  his  father  hasn't  heard  from  him." 

"  Where  is  his  other  son  ?  " 

"  Right  over  there  in  the  field." 

Go  into  the  field  and  there  you  find  the  elder  brother,  and 
you  ask  him  what  kind  of  a  man  his  younger  brother  is. 

"  Oh,  he  is  a  mean,  low,  worthless  vagabond !  " 

"  Would  you  like  to  have  him  come  back  home  ?  " 

"  No,  I  hope  he  will  never  come  back  ;  if  he  does  he  will 
disgrace  us  all." 

Go  and  talk  with  that  father  about  his  sons,  and  the  moment 
you  mention  the  younger  one,  how  his  face  lights  up.  "  My 
youngest  boy  is  away ;  I  have  been  looking  for  him  for  years, 
and  I  have  been  in  hopes  he  would  come  back  every  day." 
"  Would  you  forgive  him  if  he  came  back  ?  "  "  Forgive  him  ! 
Why,  there  is  nothing  but  love  in  my  heart  for  him.  I  have 
prayed  for  him  every  night  since  he  went  away ;  I  have  prayed 


144 


ON    THE    WAY    HOME. 


that  God  will  let  me  see  him  again  before  I  die.  If  I  wasn't 
so  old  and  feeble  I  would  go  down  to  Egypt  to  find  him  and 
bring  him  home.  He  does  not  know  how  I  love  him  ;  if  he  did, 
he  would  not  stay  away  so  long."  I  don't  believe  there  is  a 
sinner  in  this  world  that  would  stay  away  from  God  if  he  knew 
how  God  loved  him  ! 

When  the  absent  son  remembered  how  his  father  loved 
him,  he  started  for  home.  If  you  had  seen  him  passing  along 
the  highway  you  would  have  said,  "  There  goes  a  tramp."  Not 
a  bit  of  it !  He  is  an  heir  of  glory !  a  joint-heir  with  Jesus 
Christ !  Think  of  it !  He  had  been  down  in  the  pit,  but, 
thank  God !  he  is  now  out  of  the  pit. 

I  remember  the  first  time  I  was  in  Europe  and  had  been 
gone  for  six  months,  how  I  wanted  to  get  back,  and  when  I 
came  in  sight  of  my  native  land,  and  could  see  the  black  smoke 
rising  from  the  city  chimneys,  I  began  to  rejoice  that  I  was  in 
my  own  country  again.  I  can  imagine  that  prodigal  as  he 
crossed  the  line  and  entered  Palestine  again,  how  his  heart 
began  to  beat  fast,  and  his  eyes  filled  with  tears  of  joy.  He 
said.  "  The  moment  I  get  upon  that  mountain  peak  over  there 
on  that  l)lue  ridge  in  the  distance  I  shall  see  the  Valley  of  the 
Jordan  ;  I  shall  see  my  old  home."  He  pushes  on.  His  heart 
is  light,  and  that  made  his  face  bright ;  it  seemed  as  though 
every  obstacle  had  been  swept  out  of  the  way,  it  was  so  easy 
for  him  to  return  home  ! 

At  three  o'clock  it  was  his  father's  custom  to  go  on  the  roof 
of  his  house  and  pray  towards  Jerusalem.  I  can  see  the  old, 
wliite-liaircd  man  there  on  his  knees  with  liis  face  towards 
Jerusalem  praying  that  God  would  bring  back  his  wandering 
son.  After  he  had  prayed  I  can  see  him  put  up  his  hand  to 
keep  the  sun  away  from  his  eyes,  and  he  looks  ofif  towards  the 
west  in  the  same  direction  that  his  son  went  when  he  left  home. 
Many  a  time  has  that  fatlier  watched  for  his  return.  That  after- 
noon T  can  see  him  watching  again  from  the  roof.  Suddenly, 
he  thinks  he  sees  a  man  far  off  on  the  highway  coming  towards 
him.     By  and  by  the  man  gets  a  little  nearer,  and  a  little  nearer, 


TIIK    WANDERER'S    WELCOME.  j^^ 

and  he  is  soon  near  enouL;h  for  the  father  to  see  him.  Love 
makes  the  eyesight  keen.  Something  told  him  that  it  was  his 
long-lost  son.  And  though  he  was  still  a  great  way  ofT,  the 
father  ran  to  meet  him.  He  didn't  wait  until  he  got  to  the 
threshold.  The  servants  in  the  house  saw  their  master  run- 
ning, and  they  thought  it  was  very  strange,  and  they  ran  to  the 
hedge  and  looked  over  to  see  what  it  meant.  They  saw  a  man 
that  looked  like  a  tramp,  and  the  old  man  had  his  arms  around 
his  neck  and  was  kissing  him. 

The  wanderer  had  a  very  fine  speech  all  made  up  before- 
hand ;  it  was  a  very  fine  speech.  Did  you  ever  make  up  a 
speech,  and  then  forget  every  word  of  it  when  you  wanted  to 
deliver  it  ?  This  boy  had  made  one  up ;  he  had  it  all  planned 
out.  I  remember  the  first  time  I  ever  spoke  for  Christ.  I 
made  up  a  speech  and  wrote  it  down  ;  but  when  I  got  up  to 
speak  I  forgot  every  word  of  it.  The  prodigal  son  turned  his 
speech  over  in  his  mind  all  the  way  home.  "  Father,  I  have 
sinned  against  Heaven  and  before  thee,  and  am  no  more  worthy 
to  be  called  thy  son ;  make  me  as  one  of  thy  hired  servants." 
Before  he  had  time  to  say  more  his  father  stopped  him.  What 
a  false  idea  that  son  had  of  his  father !  That  father  make  his 
son  a  servant !  "  Father,  I  have  sinned  "  —  the  old  man  didn't 
want  to  hear  another  word  ;  that  was  enough.  "  I  have  sinned  " 
—  the  father  fell  upon  his  neck  and  began  to  kiss  him.  The 
servants  came  running  out,  and  the  old  man  gave  his  orders : 
"  Bring  out  the  beet  robe !  "  No  old,  second-hand  robe  that 
that  elder  brcther  had  cast  off !  Then  he  noticed  his  son's 
ring  was  gone,  and  he  said  to  another  servant,  "  Bring  a  ring 
and  put  on  his  finger."  Then  he  noticed  his  feet,  and  he  said 
to  another  servant,  "  Get  a  pair  of  shoes  and  put  on  his  feet."' 
Then  he  said  to  another  servant,  "  Go  and  kill  the  fatted  calf."' 
I  don't  believe  there  was  ever  a  calf  killed  as  quickly  as  that  one 
was,  or  a  feast  prepared  as  soon  as  that  feast.  I  don't  believe 
the  returned  prodigal  ever  tasted  meat  that  was  as  good  as  that 
fatted  calf!  The  prodigal  was  no  longer  bareheaded,  bare- 
footed, and  in  rags.     The  father  didn't  let  the  elder  brother 


146 


BREAD    ENOLUiH     AND    TO    SPARE. 


sec  him  in  that  condition.  1  can  see  the  old  man  sitting  at  the 
head  of  the  table,  lie  never  tasted  a  morsel  of  food;  all  he 
could  do  was  to  feast  his  eyes  on  his  returned  son,  who  was 
never  so  dear  to  him  in  his  life. 

I  have  heard  people  say.  "  I  am  afraid  if  I  am  converted  I 
won't  hold  out."  1  have  seen  men  feeding  swine,  who  were 
afraid  if  they  returned  to  their  father's  house  they  would  want 
to  go  back  to  feeding  swine  again.  Just  imagine  the  prodigal 
son,  as  he  sits  at  the  feast,  bowing  his  head  and  weeping,  and 
the  father  saying,  "  My  son,  are  you  sorry  you  came  home?  " 

"  No,  father,  it  is  the  happiest  moment  in  all  my  life." 

"  Then  what  are  you  crying  about?  " 

"  I  am  crying  because  I  am  afraid  I  shall  want  to  go  back 
to  feeding  swine  again." 

My  friend,  if  you  are  not  tired  and  sick  of  swine,  stay 
there !  After  you  have  returned  to  your  father's  house,  and 
sat  at  his  table  and  eaten  of  the  fatted  calf,  is  there  any  danger 
that  you  will  want  to  go  back  to  feeding  swine  ?  A  man  may 
return  to  his  cups  after  he  has  been  saved  from  drink  ;  but  I 
tell  you  I  don't  believe  there  will  be  much  backsliding  if  you 
really  come  back  home  delivered  by  the  power  of  God,  and 
become  a  joint  heir  with  Jesus  Christ.  May  God  bring  you 
back !  There  is  bread  enough  and  to  spare !  God  wants  you 
with  His  sons  and  daughters.  He  wants  the  prodigal  that  is 
feeding  swine.  That  prodigal's  father  represents  your  Father 
and  mine,  and  He  is  waiting  to  make  a  feast  for  you  if  you  will 
only  come  back  to  His  house. 

Tust  as  we  were  about  to  leave  Liverpool  for  London  to 
preach  a  lady  came  to  see  us  privately.  With  tears  and  sobs 
she  told  a  pitiful  story.  She  said  that  her  son,  nineteen  years 
of  age,  had  left  her.     She  gave  me  his  i)hot(\graph  and  said  : 

"  Mr.  Moodv.  vou  stand  before  many  and  large  assemblies. 
My  boy  may  be  in  London  now.  Oh,  look  earnestly  at  the 
audiences  you  will  preach  to  and  you  may  see  my  dear  boy  be- 
fore you.  Should  you  see  him  tell  him  to  come  back  to  me. 
Oh,  implore  him  to  come  to  his  sorrowing  mother,  to  his  dc- 


FORGIVENESS    AWAITS    THE    PENITENT.  147 

serted  home !  He  may  be  in  trouble ;  he  may  be  suffering ; 
tell  him  for  his  loving  mother  that  all  is  forgiven  and  forgotten, 
and  he  will  find  comfort  and  peace  at  home." 

On  the  back  of  this  photograph  she  had  written  his  full 
name  and  address ;  she  had  noted  his  complexion ;  the  color  of 
his  eyes  and  hair ;  why  he  had  left  home,  and  the  cause  of  his 
so  doing.  "  Whenever  you  preach,  Mr.  Moody,  look  for  my 
poor  boy,"  were  the  parting  words  of  that  mother. 

A  man  once  asked  me,  "  How  is  it  that  a  man  who  has  lived 
an  ungodly  life  can  be  saved  all  at  once?"  Why,  God  so 
loves  the  sinner  that  He  is  willing  to  give  him  salvation  in- 
stantly —  He  wants  to  save  every  one.  The  trouble  is  that  we 
don't  want  God  to  be  merciful ;  we  don't  want  His  forgiveness. 
God  is  full  of  compassion  and  love.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  devil 
that  makes  you  believe  the  sins  committed  during  the  past 
twenty  years  cannot  be  forgiven.  Suppose  a  father  has  a  son 
whom  he  has  not  seen  for  twenty  years.  Well,  when  he  arrives 
home  one  night  his  servants  say  to  him  : 

"  Your  son  has  returned." 

"  What !  "  he  exclaims,  "  my  absent  son  here  —  in  this 
house?  " 

"  Yes,  he  is  in  the  kitchen  ;  we  wanted  him  to  go  into  the 
parlor,  but  he  wouldn't ;  he  said  the  kitchen  was  good  enough 
for  him." 

He  finds  his  son,  and  the  boy  cries : 

"  Father,  father,  I  have  been  bad ;  I  haven't  done  a  good 
act  in  twenty  years  ;  I  have  been  very  unkind  to  you  ;  but,  father, 
won't  you  forgive  me?  " 

Say,  father,  wouldn't  you  forgive  him?  Wouldn't  you? 
I  would  like  to  see  a  father  who  would  not. 

I  can  tell  you  something  about  this  out  of  my  own  experi- 
ence. My  father  died  suddenly  when  we  were  little  children, 
and  my  good  mother  had  a  hard  time  with  her  large  family  of 
boys  and  girls.  After  a  while  one  of  the  older  boys  took  it  into 
his  head  that  he  could  make  his  fortune  all  alone  by  himself, 
and  so  he  ran  away. 
10 


148 


THE    GROUP    AT    THE    FIRESIDE. 


For  years  and  years  we  heard  nothing  of  him.  Sometimes 
it  seemed  as  if  my  mother's  heart  would  break.  "  Oh,  if  I  could 
only  know  he  was  dead,"  she  would  sometimes  say,  "  it  would 
be  better  than  this.  Maybe  he  is  sick  and  in  need,  or  maybe 
he  has  fallen  in  with  wicked  men,  who  will  make  him  as  bad  as 
themselves." 

We  used  to  sit  around  the  fire  on  stormy  winter  nights  and 
listen  to  the  stories  that  mother  used  to  tell  us  about  our  father ; 
about  what  he  said,  how  he  looked,  how  he  was  kind  to  a  friend 
and  lost  a  great  deal  of  money  by  him,  and  how  our  home  was 
mortgaged,  and  we  were  poor;  but  if  anybody  happened  to 
speak  the  name  of  that  absent  boy  a  great  silence  would  fall 
upon  us,  the  tears  would  come  into  my  mother's  eyes,  and  then 
we  would  all  steal  away  softly  to  bed,  whispering  our  good- 
nights,  because  we  felt  that  the  mention  of  that-  name  was  like 
a  sword  thrust  to  the  heart  of  our  mother. 

After  we  got  to  bed  we  would  lie  awake  and  listen  to  the 
roaring  of  the  wind  and  storm,  thinking  perhaps  he  was  out  in 
the  cold  somewhere.  Maybe  he  had  gone  to  sea,  and  while 
we  were  snug  in  bed  he  might  be  keeping  watch  on  the  storm- 
beaten  deck,  perhaps  climbing  the  mast  in  just  such  darkness 
and  storm.  Now  and  then,  between  the  gusts  we  would  hear 
a  sound  like  a  wail  of  the  summer  wind  when  it  used  to  make 
harp-strings  of  the  leaves  and  branches  of  the  great  maple 
trees  in  llic  dooryard  ;  now,  soft  and  gentle  ;  then  rising  louder 
and  louder.  How  we  would  hold  our  breath  and  listen ! 
Mother  was  sitting  up  to  pray  for  her  lost  boy.  Next  morning, 
perhaps,  she  would  send  one  of  us  down  to  the  post-office  to 
ask  for  a  letter  —  a  letter  from  ///;//.  though  she  never  said  so. 
But  no  letter  ever  came. 

Long  years  afterward,  when  our  mother  was  growing  old, 
and  her  hair  was  turning  gray,  one  sunnuer  afternoon  a  dark, 
sunburned  man,  with  heavy  black  beard,  was  seen  coming  in 
at  the  gate. 

He  came  up  under  the  window  first  and  looked  in,  as  if  he 
were  afraid  there  might  l)e  strangers  living  in  the  house.     He 


A    MOTHER'S    GREPZTING. 


149 


had  stopped  at  the  churchyard,  on  his  way  through  the  village, 
to  see  whether  there  were  two  graves  instead  of  one  where  our 
father  had  been  laid  so  many  years  ago,  but  there  was  only  one 
grave  there ;  surely,  his  mother  was  not  dead.  But,  still,  she 
might  have  moved  away.  Then  he  went  around  and  knocked 
at  the  door,  and  mother  went  to  open  it. 

Years  of  hardship  and  exposure  to  sun  and  storm  had  made 
him  strange  even  to  his  mother.  She  invited  him  to  come  in, 
but  he  did  not  move  or  speak  ;  he  stood  there  humbly  and  peni- 
tently ;  and,  as  a  sense  of  his  ingratitude  began  to  overwhelm 
him,  the  big  tears  found  their  way  over  his  weather-beaten 
cheeks.  By  those  tears  the  mother  recognized  her  long-lost 
son.  He  had  come  back  at  last.  There  was  so  much  love  of 
the  old  home  in  him  that  he  couldn't  always  stay  away.  "  Oh, 
it  is  my  lost  son !  "  she  cried,  "  my  dear,  dear  son,"  and  she  en- 
treated him  to  come  in.  But  he  would  not  cross  the  threshold 
until  he  confessed  his  sin,  and  heard  from  the  same  lips  which 
had  prayed  so  often  and  so  long  for  him  the  sweet  assurance 
that  he  was  forgiven.  "  No,  no,"  said  he,  "  I  cannot  come  in 
until  you  forgive  me." 

Do  you  suppose  that  mother  kept  her  boy  outside  until  he 
had  gone  through  w^ith  a  long  list  of  apologies,  done  a  long  list 
of  penances,  and  said  ever  so  many  prayers?  Not  a  bit  of  it. 
She  took  him  to  her  heart  at  once  ;  she  made  him  come  right  in  ; 
she  forgave  him  all,  rejoiced  over  him  more  than  over  all  the 
other  children  who  had  not  been  away. 

And  that  is  just  the  way  God  forgives  all  the  prodigal  souls 
who  come  back  to  Him.  O  wanderer,  come  home !  come 
home! 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE  NEW  BIRTH. 

A  Photograph  of  the  Heart  —  "I  Will  Take  Fourteen  Dozen"  — 
Breaking  the  Plate  and  Abusing  the  Artist  —  "  Ticketed  "  through 
to  Heaven  —  "My  Brother  is  an  Archdeacon"  —  Signing  Good 
Resolutions  with  Blood  —  The  Crab-apple  Tree  —  "  Can't  You 
Give  Ale  Something  To  Do?"  —  Turned  Out  of  House  and 
Home  —  A  Personal  Experience  —  Story  of  the  Crane  and  the 
Swan  —  "I  Want  Snails"  —  The  Descent  into  the  Pit  —  No 
Such  Thing  as  Wind  —  A  Puzzling  Question  —  The  Mystery  of 
Life  —  A  Thrilling  Incident  —  "  He  Isn't  Going  to  Catch  Me" — ■ 
Cornering  Him  in  One  End  of  a  Pew  —  Jumping  Over  the  Backs 
of  the  Pews  —  "I  Am  that  Nephew"  —  Joking  at  Mr.  Moody's 
Expense  —  "  You  Ought  to  be  a  Different  Man  "  —  The  Story  of 
a  Drunkard's  Downfall  —  Thrilling  Testimony  —  A  Story  of  the 
Civil  War  —  The  Empty  Cot. 

1WAS  told  some  years  ago  when  I  was  preaching  in  a  New 
England  town,  on  the  New  Birth,  that  that  doctrine  would 
do  for  the  slums  of  great  cities,  but  not  for  intelligent  and 
cultivated  people.  There  is  no  dififcrence.  Culture  is  right  in 
its  place,  but  that  is  not  the  New  Birth.  You  may  be  a  moral 
man  and  not  be  a  Christian,  but  no  man  can  be  a  Christian 
without  being  a  moral  man.  The  longer  I  live  and  mingle 
with  men,  tlic  more  I  doubt  that  men  and  women  are  "  natur- 
ally good."  Who  was  Nicodemus?  Was  he  a  drunkard,  a 
gambler,  or  a  thief?  He  was  one  of  the  best  men  in  Jerusalem  ; 
no  doubt  about  that.  He  was  an  honorable  Councillor ;  he  be- 
longed to  the  Sanhedrim  ;  he  held  a  very  high  position  ;  he  was 
an  orthodox  man,  and  he  was  one  of  the  very  soundest  of  men. 
Why,  if  he  were  here  to-day  he  would  be  made  president  of 
one  of  our  colleges ;  he  would  be  put  at  once  into  one  of  our 
seminaries,  and  have  "  Reverend  "  prefixed  to  his  name  — 
"  Reverend  Nicodemus,  D.D.,"  or  even  "  LL.D."     And  yet 

(150) 


FLATTKRINCl    PHOTOGRAPHS.  151 

what  did  Christ  say  to  him?  "  Except  a  man  he  horn  again, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

A  perfect  God  couldn't  give  an  imperfect  standard ;  a  per- 
fect God  sees  that  the  law  is  pure  and  good ;  but  we  arc  not 
good  if  we  don't  come  up  to  the  standard.  Now,  if  a  man 
should  advertise  that  he  could  take  a  photograph  of  people's 
hearts  and  give  a  perfect  likeness,  do  you  think  he  would  get 
a  customer?  If  we  have  a  photograph  taken  we  dress  ourselves 
up  and  crimp  our  hair,  and  we  have  it  taken  sitting  and  stand- 
ing, and  sitting  in  this  position  and  sitting  in  that  position,  and 
standing  in  this  position  and  standing  in  that  position,  and  if 
the  artist  makes  us  look  handsome  when  we  are  homely,  we 
say,  '*  You  are  the  first  man  that  has  ever  done  me  justice ;  I 
will  take  fourteen  dozen."  And  we  send  them  around  to  our 
friends,  and  say,  "  Yes,  that  is  a  good  likeness."  Suppose  the 
artist  could  get  a  true  photograph  of  the  heart  of  man,  do  you 
think  he  would  get  many  customers?  A  good  many  of  us 
would  break  the  plate  and  abuse  the  artist.  Some  would  say, 
"  I  wouldn't  like  to  have  my  wife  see  my  heart.  I  wouldn't 
like  to  have  her  read  my  secret  thoughts."  The  heart  of  man 
is  a  fountain  of  corruption,  vileness.  and  pollution,  and  there 
is  no  hope  for  his  being  saved  until  he  finds  out  that  he  is  bad. 

There  is  nothing  that  will  close  a  man's  mouth  who  boasts 
of  being  pure,  and  good,  and  moral,  as  to  get  a  look  at  him- 
self in  God's  looking-glass.  Just  a  little  while  before  the 
Chicago  fire  I  said  to  my  family  one  morning  that  I  would 
come  home  early  after  dinner  and  take  them  out  to  drive.  My 
little  boy  jumped  up  and  said  : 

"  Papa,  will  you  take  us  up  to  Lincoln  Park  to  see  the 
bears  ?  " 

"  Yes,  ril  take  you  up  to  Lincoln  Park  to  see  the  bears." 

I  hadn't  more  than  left  the  house  before  he  began  to  tease 
his  mother  to  get  him  ready.  She  washed  him,  put  a  white 
dress  on  him,  and  got  him  all  ready.  Then  he  wanted  to  go 
out  doors.  When  he  was  a  little  fellow  he  had  a  strange  pas- 
sion for  eating  dirt,  and  when  I  drove  up  his  face  was  covered 


I  :;2  ITRITY    FROM    WITHIN. 

with  mud  and  his  dress  was  very  dirty.  He  came  running  up 
to  me  and  wanted  me  to  take  him  into  the  carriage  and  go  to 
Lincoln  Park. 

"  WilHe,"  I  said,  "  I  can't  take  you  in  that  condition  ;  you 
must  be  washed  first." 

"  No,  I'se  clean  !  " 

"  No,  you  are  not.  You  are  dirty.  You'll  have  to  be 
washed  before  I  can  take  you  out  driving." 

"  O,  I'se  clean,  I'se  clean  ;  mamma  washed  me." 

"  No,"  I  said,  "  you  are  not." 

The  little  fellow  began  to  cry,  and  I  thought  the  quickest 
way  to  stop  him  w-as  to  let  him  look  at  himself.  So  I  got  out 
of  the  carriage,  took  him  into  the  house,  and  showed  him  his 
dirty  face  in  the  looking-glass.  That  stopped  his  mouth.  He 
never  said  his  face  was  clean  after  he  saw  himself.  But  I 
didn't  take  the  looking-glass  to  wash  him  with.  I  took  him 
away  to  the  water.  The  law  is  only  given  to  show  man  his 
needs ;  to  show  him  his  guilt  —  not  to  save  him. 

Now,  you  will  never  make  a  man  right  as  long  as  his  heart 
is  wrong.  No  outward  reformation  will  make  that  life  right. 
You  will  never  get  a  pure  stream  as  long  as  you  have  an  im- 
pure fountain.  Make  the  fountain  good  and  the  stream  will 
be  good.  Make  the  tree  good  and  the  fruit  will  be  good. 
Make  the  heart  right,  and  the  eye,  the  hand,  the  thoughts,  the 
will,  all  will  he  "  full  of  light." 

I  think  some  ministers  would  be  amazed  if  they  should 
catechise  some  of  their  oldest  members  on  the  subject  of  the 
New  Birth.  I  sometimes  ask  people  who  have  been  in  the 
church  for  years,  "  What  makes  you  think  you  have  been  '  born 
from  above'?"  "Well,  because  I  go  to  church  regularly." 
Satan  goes  to  church  as  regularly  as  any  church-member.  He 
is  there  before  it  is  dedicated  :  he  is  always  busy,  and  he  will 
snatch  away  the  "  seed,"  if  it  is  possible,  so  that  it  cannot  stay 
in  your  heart.  The  idea  that  he  is  only  to  be  found  in  gambling 
dens  and  brothels !  H  there  is  any  danger  of  men  and  women 
coming  into  God's  kingdom,  he  will  try  to  whisper  wicked 


THEIR    CLAIM    TO    HEAVEN. 


153 


thoughts  into  their  hearts.  If  it  was  only  attending  church 
that  is  going  to  make  people  Christians,  we  would  manage  to 
get  them  there  some  way.  A  man  may  be  a  deep-dyed  villain 
and  go  to  church  to  cover  up  his  villainy.  I  once  met  a  man 
who  said  he  would  go  to  heaven  if  anybody  did,  for  his  daughter 
played  the  organ  in  church,  and  he  entertained  the  minister. 
I  once  asked  a  woman  if  she  were  a  Christian,  and  she  replied : 
"  i\Iy  brother  is  an  Archdeacon  of  the  Church  of  England." 
She  seemed  to  think  because  her  brother  was  an  Archdeacon 
that  that  sort  of  ticketed  her  through  to  Heaven. 

What  is  your  hope  ?  What  makes  you  think  you  are  a 
Christian?  A  good  many  people  tell  me  that  they  were  born 
in  this  country,  and  this  is  a  Christian  country.  That  is,  they 
are  to  go  to  heaven  because  they  were  born  in  America.  And 
some  say,  "  I  not  only  go  to  church,  but  I  am  a  member."  "  I 
have  been  baptized."  "  I  have  been  confirmed."  "  I  have 
united  with  the  church."  You  may  do  all  of  these  things  and 
not  be  "  born  of  God."  Did  not  Judas  go  out  from  the  last 
supper  and  betray  his  Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver?  A 
man  may  go  from  the  communion  table  and  do  the  darkest 
deeds.  If  you  could  baptize  people  into  the  kingdom  of  God 
all  you  would  have  to  do  would  be  to  pass  a  law  that  all  chil- 
dren should  be  baptized.  But  that  is  not  being  "  born  oi  the 
Spirit,"  or  "  from  above,"  or  "  again."  Nor  is  being  "  born 
again  "  simply  coming  to  revival  meetings  and  having  your 
feelings  wrought  upon,  feeling  sad  and  feeling  good,  and 
"  turning  over  a  new  leaf,"  and  making  "  good  resolutions." 

When  I  w-as  a  young  man  I  said  I  would  "  turn  over  a  new 
leaf,"  and  on  Monday  night  the  new  leaf  was  as  black  as  that 
of  Saturday.  I  went  so  far  once  as  to  draw  blood  out  of  my 
veins  and  sign  my  good  resolutions  with  it.  It  didn't  hold. 
When  a  friend  dies,  you  attend  the  funeral,  make  good  resolu- 
tions, and  tell  the  minister  that  you  are  going  to  "  lead  a  differ- 
ent life."  There's  not  a  minister  who  does  not  have  that  kind 
of  converts,  those  whose  feelings  have  been  greatly  wrought 
upon  by  their  sorrow.     That  is  not  the  New  Birth, 


1^4  WHAT  IT  IS  TO  bp:   borx  of  god. 

WHAT  IS  IT?  Listen.  "  He  came  unto  His  own,  and 
His  own  received  Him  not.  But  as  many  as  received  Him,  to 
them  gave  He  power  to  become  the  sons  of  God  "  —  the 
power,  the  privilege,  the  authority,  to  become  the  sons  of  God ! 
"  Which  were  born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh, 
nor  of  the  will  of  man.  but  of  God."     BORN  OF  GOD. 

If  I  should  take  my  watch  and  plant  it,  I  wouldn't  get  little 
watches,  would  I?  Why?  Because  the  germ  of  life  is  not 
there.  You  may  take  a  bushel  of  gravel  and  plant  it,  and  you 
would  not  get  more  gravel,  would  you  ?  \\'hy  ?  Because  the 
germ  of  life  is  not  in  it.  But  take  a  bushel  of  grain,  and  let  the 
rain  and  the  dew  and  the  sun  fall  upon  it,  and  see  if  there  does 
not  something  come  from  it.  Why?  Because  the  germ  of  Hfe 
is  there. 

People  talk  about  culture !  I  have  heard  about  culture 
until  I  am  sick  of  the  whole  thing!  Cultivate  a  cral)-apple 
tree,  and  the  more  you  dig  around  it  the  more  crab-apples 
you  will  have.  In  order  to  change  the  nature  of  the  tree 
or  the  fruit  you  must  graft  in  a  new  nature.  Suppose  I 
plow  an  acre  of  land  next  Spring.  I  begin  Monday  morning 
and  I  plow  the  ground  lengthwise;  the  next  day  I  ]j1ovv  it 
crosswise ;  the  next  day  I  plow  it  diagonally,  and  so  on  through 
May  and  June,  varying  the  process  by  harrowing  it  and  brush- 
ing it  and  rolling  it,  and  I  keep  it  up  until  the  last  of  October. 
Then  you  come  along  and  say : 

"  What  in  creation  are  you  doing  with  that  land?  " 

"  Well,  I  believe  in  a  high  state  of  culture ;  I  am  cultivating 
it." 

"Why,  I  saw  you  plowing  that  same  land  last  Spring; 
what  are  }ou  going  to  put  into  it?  '' 

"  I'm  not  going  to  put  anything  into  it  ;  seed  isn't  necessary 
to  culture,  and  I  believe  in  a  high  state  of  culture." 

Take  the  Word  of  life  into  your  heart  and  lay  hold  of  it. 
Put  the  seed  in  and  then  cultivate  all  you  want  to. 

God  can  use  children  to  bring  others  to  Christ.  I  rcniem- 
l)er  a  little  bov  who  became  a  Christian.     His  father  was  a 


THK    PRAYING    BOY. 


155 


profane,  drinking  man,  and  he  would  not  allow  a  minister  to 
come  into  his  house.  Some  one  led  the  boy  to  Sunday-school, 
and  he  there  found  the  Saviour  and  got  a  new  heart.  One 
day  his  father  found  him  on  his  knees,  and  he  asked  him  what 
he  was  doing.  The  boy  said  he  was  praying  that  Jesus  would 
make  him  a  good  boy.  His  father  said  :  "  You  have  heard 
me  say  I  would  not  have  anyone  living  under  my  roof  that 
prayed.  I  don't  want  you  to  pray  any  more.  If  I  catch  you 
praying  again  I  will  flog  you."  When  Christ  gets  into  the 
heart  flogging  will  not  keep  us  from  Him.  The  boy  prayed 
in  secret.  He  was  obedient,  kind,  and  affectionate,  and  he 
tried  to  honor  Christ. 

One  day  his  father  again  found  him  on  his  knees,  praying. 
He  was  very  angry.  He  flogged  the  boy,  and  told  him,  in  a 
great  rage  and  with  an  oath,  that  if  he  caught  him  praying 
again  he  would  make  him  leave  the  house.  The  lad  kept  on 
praying  in  secret  that  God  would  convert  his  father ;  and  it  was 
not  long  before  his  father  again  found  him  praying.  He 
ordered  him  to  leave  the  house  and  take  his  things  with  him. 
He  didn't  have  many  things  to  take.  Drunkards'  children  do 
not  have  many  things.  He  went  to  his  mother  and  said, 
"  Good-bye,  mother."  The  mother  said,  "  My  boy,  where  are 
you  going?"  "I  don't  know.  Father  says  I  can't  stay  at 
home  any  longer,  because.  I've  been  praying."  His  mother 
knew  it  would  do  no  good  to  remonstrate,  so  she  took  him  to 
her  bosom  and  kissed  him.  She  did  not  know  when  she  would 
see  him  again.  He  went  to  his  little  brother  and  his  little 
sister  and  bade  them  good-bye  and  kissed  them.  He  then  bade 
his  father  good-bye,  and  told  him  that  as  long  as  he  lived  he 
would  pray  for  him.  He  took  his  bundle  and  left  the  house, 
not  knowing  where  he  was  going.  He  had  not  gone  a  great 
way  before  the  Holy  Spirit  touched  his  father's  heart.  He  ran 
down  the  street  and  overtook  the  boy,  and  said,  "  If  religion 
will  do  this  for  you,  I  want  it."  That  boy  had  the  privilege 
of  leading  his  father  to  Christ. 

I  am  over  sixty  years  old.     God  has  showered  blessings 


jr5  NEW   JOY    AND    HAPPINESS. 

upon  me.  My  lot  has  fallen  in  very  pleasant  places,  but  there 
is  one  blessing  high  above  them  all.  One  night  in  1855,  it 
pleased  God  to  reveal  His  Son  to  me,  and  I  became  a  partaker 
of  the  divine  nature.  I  was  passing  by  Tremont  Temple  in 
Boston  the  next  afternoon,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  sun 
was  shining  brighter  than  ever  before.  I  walked  through  the 
Common,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  birds  were  singing  for  my 
benefit.  It  seemed  as  if  the  old  elms  waved  their  branches  for 
joy,  and  all  Nature  was  at  peace.  I  did  not  know  myself.  I 
love  to  tell  people  they  can  get  something  better  than  this 
whirl  that  keeps  them  always  in  a  tumult.  One  night  the 
Bible  was  as  dry  as  a  last  year's  almanac.  I  could  not  get 
interested  in  it.  But  the  next  morning  it  was  a  new  book. 
The  light  of  heaven  shone  on  every  page.  It  seemed  as  if  the 
ink  hadn't  got  dry,  and  it  dropped  down  deep  into  my  soul. 
I  had  a  new  nature,  and  an  appetite  growing  for  God.  I  be- 
lieve that  is  what  people  want,  an  appetite  for  spiritual  things. 

In  India  they  believe  that  swans  are  sacred  birds  and  come 
down  from  heaven.  They  have  a  legend  that  a  swan  once  came 
down  and  lighted  near  an  old  crane  that  was  looking  for  snails. 
The  crane  stretched  out  its  neck,  and  said  : 

"  Where  did  you  come  from  ?  " 

"  I  came  from  heaven." 

"  Heaven  —  I  never  heard  of  that.     Is  it  far  away?  " 

"  Very  far  away." 

"  Is  it  a  good  country?  " 

"  Oh,  yes." 

"  Is  it  as  good  as  this?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  far  better." 

And  the  swan  told  about  the  lakes  and  the  rivers,  and  the 
fountains,  and  the  flowers,  and  the  crane  stood  there  listening. 

"  Are  there  any  snails  there?  "  said  the  crane. 

And  the  swan  drew  itself  up  and  indignantly  answered : 

"  No,  they  wouldn't  have  the  vile  things  there." 

"  You  may  keep  your  heaven,"  said  the  crane,  "  I  want 
snails." 


CONTENT    IN    DEGRADATION. 


157 


Listen.  There's  a  mighty  truth  wrapped  up  in  that.  Did 
you  ever  see  a  young  man  whose  mother  loves  him  with  all 
her  soul  ?  Her  home  is  as  beautiful  as  a  bit  of  Paradise  down 
in  this  world.  He  has  a  loving  father  and  brothers  and 
sisters.  Yet,  he  frequents  the  slums  and  sinks  lower  and 
lower  and  lower,  until  he  hangs  around  low  groggeries,  and 
cleans  out  spittoons  for  a  drink  of  liquor.  Tell  him  that  his 
mother  wants  him  to  come  home ;  tell  him  how  she  loves  him 
and  yearns  after  him  ;  tell  him  what  a  welcome  he  will  receive 
if  he  will  only  return ;  but  he  turns  a  deaf  ear  to  all  entreaties 
and  refuses  to  go  back.  He  will  give  up  his  mother  and  his 
white-haired  father,  his  reputation,  his  character,  his  soul,  and 
his  hope  of  Heaven,  if  someone  will  only  give  him  whiskey. 
What's  the  trouble?  He  has  got  the  "crane  nature,"  he  is 
content  with  snails.  Put  the  swan  nature  into  him,  and  he 
will  gladly  forsake  his  low  haunts  and  evil  habits.  He  will  be- 
come a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature. 

"  Born  again,"  "  born  of  the  Spirit,"  sounds  very  strange 
to  some  ears.  How  can  these  things  be?  A  great  many 
people  say,  "  You  must  reason  it  out,  but  if  you  cannot  reason 
it  out,  don't  ask  us  to  believe  it."  When  you  ask  me  to  reason 
it  out,  I  tell  you  frankly  I  can't  do  it.  "  The  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  you  hear  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not 
tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth  ;  so  is  every  one  that 
is  born  of  the  Spirit."  I  don't  understand  all  about  the  wind. 
It  may  blow  due  north  here,  and  due  south  somewhere  else.  I 
may  go  up  a  few  hundred  feet  and  find  it  blowing  in  an  entirely 
opposite  direction  from  what  it  is  blowing  down  here.  You 
ask  me  to  explain  these  currents  of  wind,  but  because  I  can't 
explain  it  and  because  I  don't  understand  it,  suppose  I  assert, 
"  Oh,  humph  !  there  is  no  such  thing  as  wind."  You  might  just 
as  well  tell  me  that  there  is  no  wind  as  to  tell  me  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  a  man  born  of  the  Spirit.  I  have  felt  the  Spirit  of  God 
working  in  my  heart  just  as  much  as  I  have  felt  the  wind  blow- 
ing in  my  face.  I  can't  reason  it  out.  There  are  a  great  many 
things  I  can't  reason  out  that  I  believe.     I  never  could  reason 


158 


THK    iMVSTKKV    OF    LIFK. 


out  the  Creation.  I  ean  see  the  world,  l)ut  1  ean't  tell  how 
God  made  it  out  of  nothinj^. 

A  party  of  young  men  were  going  to  the  country,  and  on 
their  journey  they  made  up  their  minds  not  to  believe  anything 
they  could  not  reason  out.  An  old  man  heard  them,  and 
presently  he  said : 

"  I  heard  you  say  you  would  not  believe  an\thing  you  could 
not  reason  out." 

"  Yes,"  they  replied,  "  that  is  so." 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  coming  down  on  the  train  to-day,  I 
noticed  some  geese,  some  sheep,  some  swane,  and  some  cattle, 
all  eating  grass.  Can  you  tell  me  by  what  process  that  same 
grass  was  turned  into  hair,  bristles,  feathers,  and  wool  ?  Do 
you  believe  it  is  a  fact  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  they  said,  "  we  can't  lielj)  believing  that,  though 
w'e  fail  to  understand  it." 

"  Well,"  said  the  old  man,  "  I  can't  help  believing  in  Jesus 
Christ." 

I  can't  help  believing  in  the  regeneration  of  man  when  I  see 
men  that  have  been  reclaimed. 

There  is  no  mystery  about  death,  but  there  is  always  mys- 
tery about  life.  Just  think  of  a  little  seed  planted  in  the  ground, 
and  out  of  that  comes  forth  the  sweetness  and  fragrance  of  the 
beautiful  flower.  Then  look  at  the  different  forms  of  the  differ- 
ent flowers  ;  look  at  the  rose,  the  lily,  and  other  flowers  ;  look 
at  the  difTerent  colors ;  there  is  mystery  about  that  life.  It  is 
wonderful  to  see  a  tree  three  hundred  feet  high,  and  the  sap 
running  up  to  its  top  and  giving  life  to  its  branches.  When 
there  is  so  great  a  mystery  a])out  the  life  of  a  flower  or  a  tree, 
do  you  suppose  there  is  no  mystery  about  this  new  spiritual 
life?  A  good  many  men  say,  "  T  won't  have  anything  to  do 
with  it  because  T  can't  imderstand  tlie  mystery."  Why  don't 
you  throw  away  your  natural  life?  There  is  a  good  deal  of 
mystery  about  this  body  that  you  can't  understand.  I  am  con- 
scious of  my  body,  but  I  can't  understand  its  life.  So  there 
are  a  good  many  things  about  this  new  life  that  I  can't  under- 


A    DESPERATE    CASE.  1^9 

Stand,  but  I  believe  I  have  a  new  life  as  distinct  from  animal 
life  as  light  is  from  darkness. 

I  was  once  preaching  in  the  North  of  England,  and  one 
afternoon  a  lady  said : 

"  Mr.  Moody  my  nephew  has  promised  to  come  and  hear 
you  preach,  on  condition  that  I  shall  never  ask  him  to  come  to 
another  religious  meeting  as  long  as  he  lives.  If  you  don't 
reach  him  now,  I  think  he  will  never  be  reached." 

The  young  man  was  a  graduate  of  Cambridge.  His  father, 
a  man  of  moderate  means,  had  made  great  sacrifices  to  educate 
his  son.  He  was  a  young  man  of  great  promise  when  he  went 
to  college,  but  while  there  he  became  a  confirmed  drunkard. 
His  father  and  mother  went  to  their  graves  broken-hearted. 
The  young  man  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until  all  his  friends 
had  given  him  up.     His  aunt  said : 

"  He  does  not  believe  in  the  Gospel  you  preach,  but  he  has 
made  me  promise  never  to  ask  him  to  go  to  another  meeting  as 
long  as  he  lives.  Won't  you  preach  right  at  him,  and  at  the 
conclusion  come  to  the  pew  and  talk  with  him?  He  has  had 
the  delirium  tremens  already,  and  I  fear  one  more  attack  would 
kill  him.  He  is  near  to  death.  Won't  you  come  to  the  pew 
and  talk  with  him  ?  " 

"  If  I  go  to  see  him,"  I  said,  "  I  shall  have  to  go  over  the 
backs  of  the  pews ;  everybody  will  be  looking,  and  that  will 
make  him  angry." 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  it  is  a  desperate  case,  and  I  want  you 
to  promise." 

You  know  how  it  is  with  these  godly  women,  —  they  see 
a  thing  and  they  don't  see  the  pitfalls  in  the  way.  No  argu- 
ment would  turn  her  away.     To  pacify  her,  I  said : 

"  I  will  try  to  have  an  interview  with  him." 

When  I  first  entered  the  pulpit  I  didn't  see  him,  but  on 
looking  around  later,  I  discovered  that  his  aunt  had  got  him 
at  the  inner  end  of  the  pew,  and  she  sat  by  the  pew  door  to  keep 
him  in  until  I  could  get  to  him. 

While   I   was   preaching   I   could   see   his   brows   knit.     I 


j5o  evading  the  preacher. 

fancied  he  was  saying,  "  Moody  isn't  going  to  catch  me."  But 
I  could  see  that  his  aunt  was  praying.  When  I  got  through 
his  brow  was  knit  more  than  ever.  I  didn't  know  how  to  get 
at  him  unless  I  went  over  the  backs  of  the  pews.  She  stood  up 
talking  with  some  one  in  the  aisle,  with  her  back  to  him,  to 
keep  him  in  the  pew  till  I  got  there.  I  started.  He  saw  me 
aiming  towards  him.  He  didn't  want  to  be  rude  and  push  by 
his  aunt,  but  he  concluded  that  if  I  could  go  over  the  backs  of 
the  pews  he  could  do  the  same,  and  so  he  did.  When  I  got 
there  the  aunt  turned  to  introduce  me,  and  lo !  he  was  gone. 
She  sat  down  and  cried  as  if  her  heart  would  break.     I  said : 

"  W^e  can  reach  him." 

"How?" 

"  By  the  way  of  the  Throne." 

I  get  a  good  deal  of  comfort  out  of  the  fact  that  I  can  talk 
to  God  and  a  man  can't  help  himself.  Many  a  man  has  been 
saved  in  spite  of  all  the  powers  of  hell  and  darkness,  in  answer 
to  the  prayers  of  some  godly,  sainted  wife  or  mother.  Never 
give  a  man  up.  You  can  pray  for  a  man  if  he  will  not  let  you 
talk  with  him. 

We  prayed  for  this  young  man.  I  left  England,  but  re- 
turned to  that  same  town  some  eight  years  later.  About  that 
time  a  lady  wrote  me  that  a  brother  of  hers  had  been  saved  from 
drunkenness  after  she  had  spent  eighteen  years  in  praying  for 
him.  She  wrote  me  about  it,  and  told  me  to  tell  others  never 
to  give  up.  The  letter  was  well  written.  I  thought  it  would 
touch  some  one's  heart,  and  I  read  it  in  a  meeting  in  that  town. 

When  the  meeting  was  over  a  fine-looking  man  came  up 
and  said : 

"  Did  you  say  that  man  was  in  America  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.     Whv?     Did  you  doubt  what  was  stated?  " 

"  No,  I  could  not  doubt  it :  but  T  thought  it  was  myself  until 
you  mentioned  America." 

"  What!     Were  you  ever  a  hard  drinker?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  How  long  since  you  gave  it  up  ?  " 


"WITH    GOD    ALL    THINGS    ARE    POSSIBLE."  jgi 

"  Seven  years.  Do  you  remember  a  lady  who  made  you 
promise  to  come  and  talk  to  her  nephew,  and  the  man  jumped 
over  the  backs  of  the  pews  ?  " 

I  had  forgotten  it,  but  I  remembered  it  then,  and  said: 

"  Yes,  I  do." 

"  Well,  I  am  that  nephew." 

"You  are?  You  don't  look  like  him."  God  had  "re- 
stored His  image  "  in  him.     Said  I : 

"  Would  you  tell  me  about  it  ?  " 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  drank  harder  that  ever  for  a  year  after 
that.  I  had  a  good  many  jokes  at  your  expense  in  the  public 
houses,  telling  how  I  had  '  fooled  '  Moody.  But  seven  years 
ago  this  month  I  was  in  London  on  business,  and  one  night  as 
I  sat  in  my  lodgings  with  my  feet  on  the  table  and  a  meer- 
schaum pipe  in  my  mouth,  my  thoughts  turned  in  upon  myself. 
I  said  to  myself, '  Richardson,  you  ought  to  be  a  different  man.' 
'  Yes,  I  know  it.  But  I  never  shall  be.'  *  You  ought  to  give 
up  drink.'  '  Yes,  I  know  it ;  but  if  I  could  have  done  it  for  any- 
body I  would  have  for  my  father,  and  he  could  not  keep  me. 
nor  my  mother.  They  are  dead  and  gone.  I  don't  care  what 
becomes  of  me.  The  sooner  I  am  dead  the  better.  Every 
friend  has  cast  me  off.  I  can't  break  away  from  this  habit.  It 
is  impossible.'  And  then  the  thought  came  to  me,  *  With  God 
all  things  are  possible.'  And  I  fell  on  my  knees  and  cried  to 
God,  *  All  things  are  possible  with  Thee  !     Save  me !  '  " 

He  went  out  and  tried  to  find  a  minister,  but  could  find 
none.  He  came  back  and  prayed  again.  And  then  he  got  a 
Bible  and  read.  He  grew  sleepy,  and  the  thought  came  that 
he  would  wake  up  the  next  morning  and  think  it  w^as  only  "  the 
blues,"  and  all  would  pass  off.  and  he  would  drink  more.  He 
tried  to  keep  awake.  But  he  still  grew  sleepy,  and  he  knelt 
down  and  prayed  again.  He  fell  asleep  for  a  few  hours  and 
woke  up,  and  never  felt  so  badly  in  his  life.  Then  he  fell  on  his 
knees  and  thanked  God  He  hadn't  left  him,  and  he  felt  no  de- 
sire to  take  the  pipe  into  his  mouth.  Every  morning,  when  he 
had  dressed,  his  first  thing  was  to  *'  liquor  up  "  for  the  day. 


l52  AN    EARNEST  WORKER. 

But  that  morning  the  appetite  didn't  come  back.  That  was 
seven  years  that  montli.  "  And,"'  he  said,  "  it  has  never  re- 
turned." 

When  the  man  had  gone  out  I  said  to  a  prominent  man : 

'  Do  you  know  him?  " 

"  Yes,  lie  is  one  of  the  leachng  lawyers  of  London." 

'''  Do  you  know  anything  else  about  him?  " 

"  Why,  yes !  He  is  a  member  of  the  same  church  that  I 
am  a  member  of." 

"  Do  you  know  anything  about  his  experience?  " 

''  No,  sir,  I  only  know  that  he  was  a  great  drunkard." 

"  Do  you  know  of  his  doing  anything  in  Christ's  king- 
dom? " 

"  Oh,  yes.  He  is  a  great  worker  in  our  church  ;  he  has  a 
Bible  class  of  a  hundred  young  men." 

"You  never  heard  him  tell  his  experience?" 

"  No,  sir!  he  never  refers  to  it." 

I  sent  for  him  and  he  came  to  see  me.     Said  I : 

"  Will  you  go  down  to  the  meeting  and  tell  three  thousand 
men  what  God  has  done  for  you?" 

His  lip  quivered,  as  he  answered: 

"  I  have  three  little  children,  and  \  don't  want  them  to  know 
what  their  father  was." 

"  Wouldn't  you  go  to  help  a  man  if  he  was  down  in  the  pit  ?  " 
said  I. 

"  I  would  be  the  happiest  man  on  earth  to  do  so,"  he  said. 

I  sent  invitations  into  every  ])ublic  house  in  that  city.  I 
had  the  meeting  thoroughly  advertised.  There  was  a  great 
demand  for  tickets.  I  suppose  that  among  the  three  thousand 
men  who  were  present  nearly  one  thousand  were  hard  drinkers. 
I  have  heard  the  great  orators  of  my  day,  and  I  think  I  know 
what  it  is  to  see  an  audience  niovecl ;  but  T  don't  know  that  T 
have  ever  seen  an  audience  moved  as  that  audience  was,  as  that 
clean-looking  man,  with  the  stamp  of  nobleness  on  his  face, 
stood  there  and  told  them  how  he  went  down  step  by  step,  how 
he  stood  at  his  father's  grave  and  took  a  solemn  pledge  never 


A    THRILLING    TESTIMONY.  163 

to  drink  again,  and  in  forty-eight  hours  was  drunk.  He  told 
them  how  his  mother  died,  and  how  he  sunk  lower  and  lower, 
and  gave  up  all  hope  until  that  memorable  day  when  he  heard 
that  voice  and  prayed  to  heaven,  "  All  things  are  possible  with 
God."     He  said : 

"  Gentlemen,  I  have  never  touched  tobacco  or  drink  from 
that  hour,  and  the  appetite  has  never  once  come  back." 

I  believe  God  Almighty  put  strength  in  him  then  and  there. 
I  haven't  any  doul)t  about  it.  His  testimony  thrilled  that 
audience.  I  didn't  have  to  ask  anybody  to  stand.  Men  who 
had  been  slaves  to  drink  for  years  were  freed.  He  went  with 
me  to  Glasgow,  to  Edinburgh,  to  London,  and  I  believe  hun- 
dreds, if  not  thousands,  were  saved  through  his  testimony.  I 
believe  that  God  will  put  strength  into  every  man,  however 
fallen,  if  they  will  let  Him.  If  they  become  partakers  of  God's 
nature.  He  will  break  the  fetters  and  set  them  free.  And  this 
is  what  this  lost  world  wants  to  know.  "  Except  a  man  be 
born  again,"  born  of  the  Spirit,  —  born  from  above,  "  he  can- 
not see  the  kingdom  of  God."     Keep  that  in  mind. 

On  the  Pacific  slope  one  can  see  gigantic  trees  that  have 
been  growing  since  the  time  of  Moses.  But  there  is  one  thing 
you  will  never  see  unless  you  are  born  again,  and  that  is  the 
tree  that  grows  in  the  Paradise  of  God.  You  may  go  to  Paris, 
to  London,  to  Rome,  but  the  city  that  Abraham  saw,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God,  you  will  never  see  unless  you  are 
born  of  God.  You  may  see  the  Princes  of  Germany,  of  Italy, 
and  of  England.  But  the  Prince  of  Peace  you  will  never  see 
unless  you  are  born  again  That  city  with  pearly  gates  and 
jasper  walls,  and  the  streets  paved  with  transparent  gold,  you 
will  never  see  unless  you  are  born  again.  You  may  look  into 
the  face  of  your  godly  wife,  your  saintly  mother ;  but  the  time 
is  coming  when,  unless  you  are  born  again,  there  will  be  a 
separation,  and  you  will  never  see  them  again.  Can  you 
afiford  to  be  deceived  ?  Some  of  you  have  lost  sweet  and  dear 
children  thai  vou  will  never  again  sec  unless  you  are  born  of 
the  Spirit. 
II 


164 


A    DYING    MAN'S    APPEAL. 


Perhaps  some  of  you  may  ask,  "  How  can  we  be  born 
again?"  Listen.  Christ  not  only  tokl  Xicodemus  that  lie 
must  be  born  again,  but  He  told  him  the  means.  What  was  it? 
"  And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even 
so  must  the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up :  That  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

I  don't  care  how  far  down  you  have  gone  nor  how  deep  the 
pit  into  which  you  have  fallen,  He  can  lift  you  up  and  transform 
you,  as  we  know  from  the  third  chapter  of  John.  I  want  to 
tell  you  how  I  read  that  chapter  one  night,  when  it  sounded 
sweeter  than  ever  it  did  before.  I  was  in  the  army  of  General 
Grant.  After  the  terrible  battle  of  Pittsl:)urgh  Landing  I  was 
in  a  hospital  at  Murfreesboro  looking  after  the  wounded  and 
dying.  I  had  been  up  two  nights  and  was  so  utterly  ex- 
hausted that  I  almost  went  to  sleep  while  walking  around 
among  the  cots  of  the  wounded  soldiers,  and  I  was  obliged  to 
take  a  little  rest.  Just  as  I  had  fallen  asleep  in  the  middle  of 
the  night  a  soldier  woke  me  up  and  said  that  a  man  in  a  cer- 
tain ward  wanted  to  see  me. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  I  will  see  him  in  the  morning." 

"  But,"  he  said,  "  he  will  be  dead  in  the  morning ;  if  you 
want  to  see  him  you  must  come  now." 

So  I  w-ent  with  him,  and  he  led  me  to  the  wounded  man's 
cot.     The  dying  soldier  said  : 

"  Chaplain,  I  want  you  to  help  me  die." 

"  My  dear  friend,"  I  said,  "  I  would  take  you  right  up  in  my 
arms  and  carry  you  into  the  kingdom  of  God  if  I  could ;  but  I 
cannot  do  it ;  T  cannot  help  you  die." 

"  But,  Chaplain,  can't  you  help  me  see  the  way  ;  it  is  hard  to 
die  all  alone." 

I  tell  you  that  is  when  we  want  help.  I  told  him  about 
Jesus  Christ ;  but  he  shook  his  head  and  said  : 

"  He  won't  help  me,  because  I  have  been  fighting  against 
Him  all  my  life." 

He  said  that  when  he  told  his  mother  he  had  enlisted  she 
said : 


"HELP    ME    TO    DIE."  165 

"  I  could  give  you  up  and  Icf  you  go  if  you  were  only  a 
Christian ;  but  the  thought  that  you  may  be  cut  down  and  die 
without  Christ  is  terrible  to  me." 

"  I  told  mother  that  when  the  war  was  over  I  would  become 
a  Christian."  '  But,'  said  she,  '  You  may  never  live  to  see  this 
war  over  ' ;  and  now  I  have  got  to  die,  and  I  never  shall  see  her 
again.     Can't  you  help  me?  " 

"  I  will  do  all  I  can,"  I  said. 

I  took  my  Bible  and  read  the  promises  to  him,  but  I 
couldn't  get  him  to  believe  that  one  of  those  promises  was  for 
him. 

I  saw  that  his  life  was  fast  slipping  away,  and  I  couldn't 
bear  to  have  him  die  in  that  condition ;  so  I  lifted  my  heart  to 
God  for  direction.  Then  I  turned  to  the  third  chapter  of 
John,  and  said  : 

"  I  am  going  to  read  a  conversation  that  Christ  had  with  a 
man  who  went  to  Him  in  your  state  of  mind."  So  I  began : 
"  There  was  a  man  of  the  Pharisees,  named  Nicodemus,  a  ruler 
of  the  Jews  :  The  same  came  to  Jesus  by  night,  and  said  unto 
him,  Rabbi,  we  know  that  thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God: 
for  no  man  can  do  these  miracles  that  thou  doest,  except  God 
be  with  him." 

The  dying  man's  eyes  were  riveted  upon  me,  as  he  eagerly 
listened  to  every  word  that  fell  from  my  lips,  and  when  I  got 
to  the  fourteenth  verse  and  read,  "  And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  be 
lifted  up :  That  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  eternal  life,"  he  cried : 

"  Stop,  is  that  there  ?  " 

"  Yes."  I  said,  "  it  is  right  here." 

"  Read  that  again,  will  you?  " 

I  read  it  slowly  and  carefully  that  he  might  hear  every  word  : 
"  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must 
the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up :  That  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."     Then  he  said: 

"  That  helps." 


1(56  '^""^'     DAWX    OF    A    XKW    LIFE. 

••  Well."  1  said,  "  bless  God  fen-  that !  "' 

"  It  sounds  good,  Chaplain,  read  it  to  nie  once  more,"  he 
said. 

And  I  read  it  again.  A  radiant  smile  came  over  his  face, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  a  new  life  had  dawned  upon  him.  When 
I  had  finished  the  chapter,  I  sat  quietly  beside  him  for  some 
time.  I  noticed  that  his  lips  were  moving,  and  I  thought  per- 
haps he  was  trying  to  pray.  I  bent  over  him  and  I  could  hear 
him  faintly  whisper,  "  That  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should 
not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  1'hen  he  opened  his  eyes, 
fixed  a  calm,  resigned  look  upon  me  and  said  : 

"  Chaplain,  you  needn't  read  to  me  any  more  ;  it  is  enough ; 
Jesus  Christ  was  lifted  up  in  my  place.     I  am  not  alone  now." 

After  I  had  prayed  with  him  and  made  him  as  comfortable 
as  possible,  I  left  him  for  the  night.  The  next  morning  I 
hastened  back  to  the  ward.  The  cot  was  empty.  I  asked  the 
nurse : 

"Did  you  stay  with  him  till  he  died?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Tell  me  how  he  died?  " 

"  Why,"  said  she,  "  he  kept  repeating  those  verses  over  and 
over  again,  and  just  as  he  breathed  his  last  I  heard  him  say, 
'  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must 
the  Son  of  man  be  lifted  up! 

I  thank  God  for  the  third  chapter  of  John  !  I  think  it  is  the 
most  precious  thing  in  all  the  world. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SEEKING   CHRIST   AND    FOLLOWING   FIIM. 

Faithful,  Anxious,  and  Curious  Followers  —  The  Man  Who  Came  to 
See  the  Chairs  —  "  I  Thought  You  Were  a  Humbug"  —  A  Start- 
ling Question  —  "  Do  You  Know  That  IMan?"  —  Reward  of  Ten 
Thousand  Dollars  for  a  Lost  Diamond  —  Crawling  Under  the 
Chairs  —  Jumping  from  the  Gallery  —  "  You  Are  Just  the  Man  "'  — 
Mr.  Moody's  Condition  When  He  Arrived  in  Boston  as  a  Boy  — 
Crying  Unto  God  in  His  Extremity  —  "Moody,  I  Don't  Like 
Your  Style "  —  Personal  Reminiscences  of  the  Burning  of 
Chicago  —  A  Night  of  Horror  —  An  Indignant  Woman  —  "  None 
of  Your  Business,  Sir"  —  "Where  is  Mary?"  —  The  Man  Who 
Ran  up  Behind  Mr.  Moody  —  A  Visit  to  the  New  York  Tombs  — 
"  Talk  to  the  Other  Man ;  I'm  All  Right "  —  An  Astonished  Pris- 
oner—  A  Dry  Goods  Box  for  a  Pulpit  —  The  Man  Who  Pre- 
tended He  Wasn't  Listening. 

I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to  three  things.  One  is  a 
question,  the  second  is  an  exhortation,  and  the  third  is 
a  command. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  John  we  find  this  question,  "  What 
seek  ye?"  These  are  the  first  words  that  fell  from  the  lips  of 
the  Son  of  God  as  recorded  by  John;  they  might  have  been 
the  first  words  that  John  ever  heard  Him  utter.  It  was  about 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  that  John  the  Baptist  stood  with 
two  of  his  disciples  and  saw  Jesus  at  a  little  distance  and  said, 
"  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God!  "  These  two  disciples  left  their 
master  and  followed  Christ.  When  Jesus  turned  and  saw 
them  following,  He  said  to  them,  "  What  seek  ye?  "  They 
answered,  "  Rabbi,  where  dwellest  Thou?  "  He  said,  "  Come 
and  see."  They  went,  and  they  were  so  impressed  by  that 
interview  that  they  never  left  Him;  they  became  His  fast 
friends,  and  all  through  His  ministry  they  followed  Him. 
They  followed  Him  to  the  cross;  they  were  witnesses  of  His 

(167) 


j58  INTKRKSTKI)    MoTlVK^;. 

crucifixion;  they  went  to  Bethany  and  saw  Him  ascend  into 
the  heavens,  and  tlie  clouds  receive  Him  out  of  their  sight; 
and  it  is  supposed  that  one  of  them  went  to  a  martyr's  crown. 

It  is  very  evident  that  John  and  Anch^cw  found  in  Christ 
what  a  good  many  men  did  not  find  in  that  day,  because  in 
one  place  we  read  that  many  of  His  disciples  went  back  and 
w^alked  no  more  with  Him.  It  looked  to  them  as  if  Christ 
wasn't  all  that  He  claimed  to  be;  they  seemed  to  be  disap- 
pointed. It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  what  men 
follow  Christ  for.  If  a  man  follows  Christ  for  what  he  can 
get,  he  will  be  disappointed ;  but  if  he  follows  Christ  for  what 
He  is,  he  never  will  be  disappointed. 

When  Christ  was  on  earth,  all  classes  of  people  followed 
Him,  and  for  all  kinds  of  motives,  until  one  day  He  turned 
around  to  them  and  said,  "  Ye  seek  Me,  not  because  ye  saw 
the  miracles,  but  because  ye  did  eat  of  the  loaves  and  were 
filled."  That  was  what  they  wanted,  loaves  and  fishes.  I 
suppose  some  of  the  neighbors  told  them  how  He  fed  five 
thousand  people  a  few  days  before,  in  the  desert,  with  five 
little  barley  loaves  and  two  small  fishes,  and  when  they  got 
through  they  had  twelve  baskctfuls  left,  a  good  deal  more  than 
they  began  with.  That  excited  the  curiosity  of  a  good  many 
people,  and  they  rushed  into  the  desert  in  hopes  He  would 
make  some  more  bread.  I  can  imagine  one  man  touching 
another  on  the  elbow  and  saying: 

"  Do  you  think  He  will  make  any  bread  to-day?  " 

"  I  don't  know." 

"Did  you  taste  of  the  bread  He  made  the  other  day?" 

'*  Yes,  I  had  some." 

"  How  did  it  taste?" 

"  I  never  tasted  better  bread  in  my  life." 

"  How^  did  the  fish  taste?  " 

"  I  never  tasted  better  fish." 

"  Well,  I  .should  like  to  taste  some  of  that  bread  and  fish 
myself." 

They  were  very  anxious  that  He  should  make  a  few  more 


DRAWN    BY    CURIOSITY. 


169 


loaves  and  fishes.  They  didn't  care  anything  about  the  doc- 
trine He  preached,  but  they  would  hke  to  tell  their  grand- 
children that  they  had  eaten  bread  that  had  never  been  baked, 
and  fish  that  had  never  seen  water.  That  was  the  height  of 
their  ambition.  They  didn't  get  anything  from  Christ;  they 
were  disappointed. 

There  was  another  class  that  thought  He  was  going  to  set 
up  a  temporal  kingdom.  They  wanted  offtce.  The  most 
popular  man  in  the  country  is  the  newly  inaugurated  Presi- 
dent when  he  has  a  lot  of  offices  to  fill;  but  when  the  offices 
are  all  filled,  he  is  not  quite  so  popular.  I  suppose  some  of 
them  thought  if  He  should  set  up  a  temporal  kingdom  that 
they  would  be  postmasters  or  something  else.  But  when  they 
found  it  was  a  spiritual  kingdom,  not  a  temporal  kingdom, 
that  He  was  to  set  up,  they  went  back,  and  walked  no  more 
with  Him. 

I  was  preaching  in  Philadelphia  some  years  ago,  and  a  man 
arose  and  said  he  hadn't  been  inside  of  a  church  for  twenty 
years  until  the  week  before.  A  man  had  told  him  it  was  a 
marvelous  building  in  which  our  meetings  were  held,  and  a 
strange  sight  to  see  eleven  thousand  empty  chairs  on  the  floor. 
He  wanted  to  see  eleven  thousand  empty  chairs,  and  as  soon 
as  the  hall-keeper  opened  the  doors,  in  he  came.  After  he  had 
seen  the  chairs  he  was  curious  to  learn  what  the  people  came 
for.  That  man  wasn't  hard  to  reach.  He  came  within  hear- 
ing of  the  Gospel  and  the  word  reached  him  the  first  thing. 
He  came  to  see  empty  chairs,  and  he  found  a  living  Christ. 

We  were  once  holding  meetings  in  a  city  after  an  absence 
of  eight  years,  and  a  man  came  up  to  me  one  day  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  to  thank  you  for  leading  me  to 
Christ."  And  he  gave  me  such  a  grip,  as  he  shook  hands,  that 
I  didn't  get  over  it  for  about  two  hours. 

"  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  all  about  it,"  I  said. 

"  Well,  when  you  were  last  here  I  didn't  believe  in  you  at 
all;  I  thought  you  were  a  humbug,  and  I  wouldn't  go  to  hear 
you  until  you  were  having  your  last  meeting  down  in  the  City 


I-O  A    PERSONAL    QUESTION. 

Hall,  when  a  friend  persuaded  me,  and  I  went  just  to  please 
him.  When  I  got  there  every  seat  was  taken  and  I  stood  back 
by  a  post  with  my  hands  in  my  pockets.  All  at  once  you 
pointed  down  at  me,  and  said,  '  Young  man,  will  you  take 
eternal  life  to-night  as  a  gift?'  The  question  startled  me.  I 
took  my  hands  out  of  my  pockets,  and  the  thought  suddenly 
came  to  me  that  I  would  be  a  very  stupid  man  if  I  didn't  take 
eternal  life  as  a  gift;  and  I  have  been  serving  the  Lord  ever 
since." 

I  said  to  a  gentleman  who  was  present: 

"  Do  you  know  that  man?  " 

"  Yes,  we  consider  him  the  brightest  star  from  your  work 
here  eight  years  ago.  If  you  remain  here  long  enough  you 
will  find  out  what  kind  of  a  Christian  he  is." 

He  came  to  all  the  meetings  for  a  month,  and  got  there 
before  I  did  every  time.  He  helped  in  the  inquiry  meetings, 
and  would  come  in  with  his  l^iblc  imder  his  arm,  and  the 
moment  he  found  an  unconverted  man  he  would  slip  right  into 
the  seat  and  go  to  work  for  him.  He  came  into  a  meeting 
without  a  thought  of  seeking  Christ,  but  having  found  Him, 
he  became  an  earnest  worker  in  His  cause. 

The  exhortation  is  this :  "  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  He  may 
be  found,  call  ye  upon  Him  while  He  is  near."  Notice  that  the 
te.xt  does  not  say  seek  health,  seek  happiness,  seek  ])eace,  seek 
joy,  —  it  says  "Seek  yc  the  Lord."  1  don't  find  any  place  in 
the  Bible  where  it  says,  seek  the  Lord  with  your  head;  it  says 
sock  with  your  heart,  and  when  you  seek  with  all  your  heart, 
you  will  find  I  lim. 

I  said  to  a  man  one  day: 

"Well,  my  friend,  are  you  a  Christian?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"Would  you  like  to  be  one?' 

"  I  don't  object." 

"  My  friend,  you  will  never  be  saved  with  that  spirit." 

The  poor  fellow  had  been  wondering  why  the  Lord  didn't 
save  him.     If  you  ever  see  the  kingdom  of  God,  you  have  got 


SEARCHING    FOR    A    DIAMOND. 


171 


to  be  in  dead  earnest.  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  straight  gate. 
If  the  kingdom  of  God  is  all  it  is  represented  to  be  it  is  worth 
seeking  with  all  your  heart.  The  Bible  says,  "  In  the  day  that 
ye  shall  search  for  Me  with  all  your  heart  ye  shall  find  Me." 
It  does  not  take  a  seeking  Saviour  and  an  anxious  sinner  a 
great  while  to  find  each  other. 

If  salvation  is  what  it  is  represented  to  be  it  is  worth  giving 
up  everything  else  and  giving  your  whole  attention  to  it;  it 
is  worth  letting  business  alTairs  and  home  duties  go  until  this 
great  question  is  settled.  Suppose  I  should  say  to  an  audience 
that  when  I  came  into  the  building  I  had  a  very  valuable  dia- 
mond, and  that  I  lost  it  somewhere  in  the  building,  and  I  would 
give  to  anyone  who  would  find  it  ten  thousand  dollars  if  he 
would  restore  it  to  me  inside  of  twenty-four  hours.  Why,  you 
would  see  the  most  earnest  crowd  in  the  world.  They 
wouldn't  wait  to  hear  another  word;  every  one  of  them  would 
begin  to  search  in  earnest.  If  a  man  in  the  gallery  saw  it  on 
the  floor  below  he  would  jump  right  down  there;  he  wouldn't 
be  particular  about  appearances  either.  If  there  was  a  chance 
to  get  ten  thousand  dollars  they  would  stay  there  all  night. 
After  midnight,  should  some  one  ask  them  if  their  folks 
wouldn't  worry  about  them  they  would  say,  "  Let  them 
worry."  If  I  should  say  to  one  of  them  in  the  morning,  "  You 
had  better  go  to  breakfast,"  he  would  say,  "  Oh,  no,  Mr. 
Moody,  I  don't  want  any  breakfast."  If  they  thought  there 
was  one  chance  out  of  a  hundred  thousand  of  getting  that  ten 
thousand  dollars  they  would  stay  there  for  the  next  twenty- 
four  hours  and  creep  all  around  the  room  on  their  hands  and 
knees;  they  would  crawl  under  the  chairs  and  tables  and  hunt 
the  floor  all  over.  They  wouldn't  care  what  the  papers  might 
say;  they  wouldn't  care  anything  about  public  opinion;  not 
one  of  them  would  have  to  be  waked  up;  they  wouldn't  go  to 
sleep;  they  would  be  tremendously  in  earnest  to  get  that  ten 
thousand  dollars.  I  tell  you  it  would  be  the  liveliest  crowd 
you  ever  saw.  If  some  of  them  had  a  hard  time  during  the 
year,  and  they  could  find  that  ten  thousand  dollars,  it  would 


172 


TURNING    ON    THE    LIGHT. 


give  them  a  good  lift.  They  would  go  without  eating,  drink- 
ing, and  sleeping  for  the  possible  chance  of  getting  that  ten 
thousand  dollars. 

Isn't  eternal  life  worth  more  than  ten  thousand  dollars? 
Isn't  it  worth  more  than  one  hundred  thousand?  Isn't  it 
worth  more  than  all  the  wealth  of  the  world?  If  you  can  get 
eternal  life  right  now  by  just  asking  for  it,  isn't  it  the  height 
of  madness  to  go  without  it?  You  may  have  eternal  life  now 
if  you  will  only  seek  it!  Say  that  from  this  hour  you  will  seek 
the  kingdom  of  God;  that  you  will  not  eat,  drink,  or  sleep  until 
this  great  question  is  settled.  I  never  saw  a  man  come  to  that 
decision  who  did  not  get  into  the  kingdom  very  quickly. 

I  met  a  man  in  Scotland  many  years  ago,  and  I  said  to  him: 

"  Are  you  a  Christian?  " 

"  No,  but  I  am  trying  to  become  one." 

"What  is  the  trouble?" 

"  I  don't  know;  when  I  got  up  this  morning  I  prayed  that 
I  might  be  converted  to-day.  I  haven't  been  to  my  business 
to-day;  I  spent  the  day  in  prayer,  and  I  came  here  to-night 
determined  I  wouldn't  go  out  of  this  church  until  the  question 
was  settled.  Now  the  services  are  over,  and  I  don't  know 
why  I  am  not  a  Christian.  When  I  left  home  to-night  I  said 
I  would  not  go  back  until  I  knew  that  I  was  converted;  but 
I  am  not." 

"  You  are  just  the  man,"  I  said.  "  I  will  see  if  the  Bible 
won't  turn  the  light  on  here."  T  took  my  Bible  and  showed 
him  the  way,  and  it  didn't  take  him  long  to  get  into  the 
kingdom. 

Those  men  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  got  in  pretty  quick, 
didn't  they?  They  just  cried  out,  "  Men  and  brethren,  what 
must  we  do  to  be  saved?"  They  were  wide  awake.  I  be- 
lieve if  every  man  and  woman  will  seek  the  kingdom  of  God 
first,  they  shall  not  want;  I  believe  God  will  take  care  of  our 
temporal  alTairs  very  quickly. 

When  I  first  went  to  Boston  I  was  what  you  might  call  a 
tramp;  T  was  in  that  city  without  a  place  to  lay  my  head;  my 


THE    DANGER    OF    DELAY. 


»73 


money  was  all  gone,  and  in  my  extremity  I  cried  unto  God  on 
the  streets;  I  promised  that  I  would  serve  Him.  And  I  had 
work  inside  of  an  hour.  I  have  never  known  what  it  was  to 
want  from  that  day  to  this.  I  have  had  plenty  of  work  right 
along.  I  pity  a  man  that  has  nothing  to  do,  even  if  he  is  worth 
his  millions.  Seek  the  kingdom  of  God  first,  and  you  will 
have  plenty  to  do;  no  fiction  about  that. 

A  man  once  told  me  that  he  "  would  consider  it."  If  I 
should  tell  my  boy  to  go  and  get  a  glass  of  water  and  he  should 
say,  "  I  will  consider  it,"  I  think  I  would  have  something  t^ 
say  to  him.  When  God  says,  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God,"  and  a  man  says,  "  I  will  consider  it,"  what  do  you  think 
of  that  man?  I  will  consider  it!  What  a  piece  of  imperti- 
nence to  Almighty  God!  I  tell  you  if  you  want  prosperity,  just 
take  that  command  and  obey  it  to  the  letter.  Make  up  your 
mind  that,  cost  what  it  will,  you  are  going  to  have  the  king- 
dom of  God  first. 

A  man  said  to  me  some  time  ago :  "  Moody,  I  don't  like 
your  style  of  preaching." 

"  Why  not?  " 

"  You  always  try  to  get  the  people  to  act  at  once.  Why 
don't  you  give  them  time  to  meditate  and  consider?  " 

"  Well,  my  friend,"  I  said,  "  I  once  gave  an  audience  a 
week  to  decide  what  they  would  do  with  Jesus  Christ.  I  would 
thrust  my  arm  into  the  fire  before  I  would  do  that  again.  I 
would  not  dare  to  give  an  audience  a  week  or  even  an  hour.  I 
don't  know  what  may  happen  in  an  hour." 

I  remember  preaching  in  Chicago  on  five  consecutive  Sun- 
day nights  on  the  life  of  Christ.  On  the  fifth  night  I  had  got 
Him  into  the  hands  of  Pilate,  and  Pilate  was  like  a  good  many 
people,  perplexed,  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  Christ.  I 
had  taken  the  familiar  text,  "  What  shall  I  do  with  Jesus,  who 
is  called  Christ?"  After  I  had  preached  as  strong  a  sermon 
as  I  could  I  said  to  the  audience,  —  and  it  was  about  as  big  a 
blunder  as  I  ever  made  in  all  my  life  —  "I  want  you  to  take 
this  question  home  and  consider  it.  and  next  Sunday  night  I 


174 


FLKKING    BEFOKK    TlIK    FIRK. 


want  you  to  go  to  Calvary  with  me,  and  there,  under  the  cross, 
we  will  settle  what  to  do  with  Jesus  Christ." 

Just  then  the  great  city  bell,  only  a  block  away,  rang  out 
an  alarm  of  fire.  That  was  nothing  in  those  days,  and  I  paid 
no  attention  to  it.  But  the  alarm  continued,  and  while  the 
bell  was  ringing  out  a  general  alarm,  Mr.  Sankey  closed  the 
meeting  by  singing  "  To-day  the  Saviour  calls."  The  last 
verse  rang  through  the  hall, 

'■  To-day  the  Saviuur  calls, 
For  refuge  fly; 
The  storm  of  vengeance  falls, 
For  death  is  nigh." 

It  seemed  afterwards  as  if  that  verse  was  prophetic.  We 
held  an  inquiry-meeting,  but  not  many  remained.  How  could 
we  expect  it  when  I  had  given  them  a  week  to  decide  what 
to  do  with  Jesus?  After  the  inquiry-meeting  we  started  for 
home.  As  soon  as  I  started  I  found  that  the  city  was  doomed; 
even  the  clapboards  of  the  building  we  were  in  were  falling, 
and  the  burning  shingles  were  dropping  down.  The  fire  was 
breaking  out  all  around  me.  It  was  a  very  serious  question 
whether  I  could  get  home  to  my  wife  and  children  and  get 
them  to  a  place  of  safety.  When  I  got  them  out  of  bed,  flames 
thirty  feet  high  were  following  me,  and  before  midnight  the 
hall  where  I  preached  that  sermon  was  in  ashes;  before  two 
o'clock  the  church  where  I  worshiped  was  in  ashes;  before 
three  o'clock  the  house  that  I  lived  in  was  in  ashes.  Before 
daybreak  next  morning  one  hundred  thousand  people  were 
burned  out  of  house  and  home.  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  a 
glimpse  in  that  fire  of  what  the  Day  of  Judgment  will  be,  when 
I  saw  flames  rolling  down  the  streets,  twenty  and  thirty  feet 
high,  consuming  everything  in  its  march  that  did  not  flee.  I 
saw  there  the  millionaire  and  the  beggar  fleeing  alike.  There 
was  no  difference.  That  night  great  men,  learned  men,  wise 
men,  all  fled  alike.  There  was  no  difference.  And  when  God 
comes  to  judge  the  world  there  will  be  no  difference. 

No  one  knows  exactly  how  many  perished  in  the  flames 


A    RUDE    ANSWER.  1 75 

that  awful  night.  It  was  estimated  that  a  thousand  people 
were  burned  alive:  and  right  around  that  hall  a  good  many 
perished.  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  some  who  heard 
me  were  in  eternity  before  midnight.  That  was  in  187 1. 
I  shall  never  meet  that  audience  again,  and  I  had  given  them 
a  whole  week  to  decide  what  to  do  with  Jesus. 

In  England,  the  first  time  I  went  there,  as  I  descended  from 
the  pulpit  one  day,  a  lady  stood  near,  and  as  I  passed  her  on 
mv  wav  to  the  inquiry-room  I  said  to  her: 

"  Madam,  are  you  a  Christian?"  Her  eyes  snapped,  and 
she  said: 

"  None  of  your  business,  sir." 

I  thought  I  had  made  a  fool  of  myself,  and  would  have  gone 
back  and  made  an  humble  apology  if  I  dared.  To  my  great 
joy  and  delight  she  was  back  at  the  next  meeting,  but  I  didn't 
go  near  her.  She  was  there  every  day  for  a  week.  It  was 
Sunday  afternoon  when  I  spoke  to  her. 

The  next  Sunday  afternoon  I  preached  on  "  Behold  the 
Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  When 
I  was  part  way  through,  I  said,  "  If  there  is  anyone  in  the 
audience  who  wants  God  to  take  away  his  sin,  he  need  not 
wait  till  I  am  through  the  sermon,  but  he  can  bow  his  head 
and  say,  '  O  Lamb  of  God,  take  away  my  sin,'  and  He  will  do 
it."  I  saw  that  lady  bow  her  head.  When  the  inquirers 
were  invited  to  go  into  the  chapel,  back  of  the  pulpit,  I  met  her 
and  she  held  out  her  hand  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  you  to  forgive  me  for  being  so  un- 
lady-like  last  Sunday." 

"  My  friend,  I  want  you  to  forgive  me.  I  didn't  intend  to 
ofTend  you."  I  said. 

"  Oh,  but  I  am  so  glad  you  spoke  to  me  as  you  did.  I  have 
had  a  hard  week  of  it." 

''  Why  don't  you  ask  God  to  forgive  you,  and  have  the 
question  settled?  " 

"  Oh,"  she  said,  "  I  am  forgiven.     I  am  a  Christian." 

I  thought  that  was  strange,  and  I  asked: 


\y6 


A    HAPPY    WOMAN. 


"  How  long  have  you  been  a  Christian?  " 

"  About  fifteen  minutes." 

"Did  you  become  a  Christian  to-day?" 

"  Yes,  sir.  Don't  you  remember  saying  if  any  one  wants 
to  become  a  Christian,  if  he  will  just  bow  the  head  and  say 
from  the  heart  '  O  Lamb  of  God,  take  away  my  sins,'  it  would 
be  done?     Didn't  you  mean  it  and  believe  it?  " 

"  Yes,  certainly." 

"  Well,  I  took  you  at  your  word.  I  have  not  had  any  peace 
for  a  week;  and  it  seemed  as  if  I  could  not  carry  the  burden 
any  longer.  And  when  you  said  that  I  just  bowed  my  head 
and  cried,  '  O  Lamb  of  God,  take  away  my  sins.'  and  I  be- 
lieve I  have  been  converted." 

I  thought  I  would  test  her.     And  so  I  said: 

"  Will  you  go  and  talk  to  that  factory  girl?"  indicating  a 
girl  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  old. 

That  wealthy  lady  went  and  sat  down  by  the  side  of  the 
poor  factory  girl,  and  in  about  an  hour  I  saw  her  get  down  on 
her  knees  and  pray  with  her;  and  the  girl  went  out,  wiping 
away  her  tears,  and  with  the  light  of  heaven  shining  from  her 
eyes.     Then  the  lady  came  to  me  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  believe  I  am  the  happiest  person  on  earth. 
To  think  that  I  am  not  only  forgiven,  but  have  been  used  to 
help  that  girl !  Can't  I  come  here  to-night  to  the  inquiry-meet- 
ing and  try  to  find  some  other  poor  person  and  help  her?" 

In  the  next  few  weeks  I  believe  she  led  more  persons  to 
Christ  than  any  other  w^orkcr.  She  brought  her  friends  in  one 
after  another,  and  in  a  few  months  the  news  came  to  me  that 
thirty  or  forty  had  been  led  to  Christ  through  her  influence. 
When  I  returned  to  America  about  two  years  after,  the  first 
letter  I  received  from  England  had  a  black  border,  and  it  told 
me  she  had  gone  home.  But,  from  the  time  she  bowed  her 
head  that  afternoon  and  said,  '  O  Lamb  of  God,  take  away 
my  sins,"  she  seemed  to  be  pressing  right  towards  the  mark. 
Friends,  it  is  that  simply.  You  need  not  wait  for  anyone  to 
ask  you  to  come  to  Christ.     Christ  asks  you  now. 


"I    WASN'T    LOST."  1 77 

The  reason  why  so  few  come  to  Him  is  because  so  few  be- 
lieve they  are  lost.  A  lady  came  to  a  crowded  meeting,  bring- 
ing her  little  girl,  and  somehow  they  got  separated;  and  after 
the  mother  had  failed  to  find  her,  the  matter  was  reported  at 
the  pulpit,  and  they  went  to  work  to  find  the  child.  The 
minister  called  out: 

"Where  is  Mary?     Mary!     Mary!" 

But  the  little  girl  did  not  answer.  They  looked  all  over  the 
house,  but  no  trace  of  her  could  be  found,  and  the  mother  be- 
came almost  frantic.  Then  the  bell-ringer  was  called  out,  and 
he.  went  through  the  streets  crying: 

"Child  lost!     Child  lost!" 

When  the  meeting  was  over  they  found  the  little  girl  sitting 
on  the  front  seat,  and  some  one  said  to  her: 

"  Why,  Mary,  why  didn't  you  speak  out  when  they  called 
your  name?  " 

"  Why,"  said  Mary,  "  I  wasn't  lost!  " 

You  laugh  at  her,  and  you  laugh  at  yourselves.  A  great 
many  are  lost  and  they  don't  know  it. 

Lost!  Do  you  know  what  it  means?  Do  you  know  what 
it  is  to  be  without  hope  and  without  God  in  the  world?  One 
evening  as  I  was  going  home  I  heard  a  man  running  up  be- 
hind me.     I  turned  and  was  accosted  by  one  who  said: 

"  Sir,  I  just  passed  two  ladies,  and  I  heard  one  of  them  say, 
'  That  is  Mr.  Moody.'     Are  you  Mr.  Moody?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me.  I  want  you  to  intercede  with 
Christ  for  my  lost  soul.  I  am  without  God  and  without  hope 
in  this  world." 

Thank  God,  there  was  a  man  wdio  had  been  waked  up.  He 
realized  that  he  was  lost. 

Some  years  ago  a  young  man  in  Brooklyn  was  spiritually 
awakened,  and  he  said  that  night  after  night  as  he  went  home 
after  a  debauch  and  saw  his  mother's  portrait  hanging  on  the 
wall  it  seemed  as  if  her  eyes  would  pierce  his  inmost  soul.  At 
last  he  could  bear  it  no  longer,  and  he  turned  the  picture 


Ijg  INNOCENT    PRISONERS. 

toward  the  wall.  The  Son  of  man  was  seeking  that  young 
man  through  the  face  of  his  mother. 

Durmg  the  Civil  War  I  came  from  Grant's  army  to  the  city 
of  New  York,  and  I  went  into  the  Fulton  Street  prayer-meet- 
ing. After  the  service  a  gentleman  wanted  to  know  if  I  would 
preach  to  the  prisoners  in  the  Tombs.  I  said  I  would.  I  sup- 
posed they  would  all  be  brought  out  of  their  cells  into  the 
chapel;  but  when  I  arrived  I  found,  to  my  dismay,  that  I  had 
got  to  preach  to  the  prisoners  in  their  cells.  There  were  three 
or  four  tiers  of  cells,  one  right  over  the  other,  and  T  had  to 
stand  and  talk  to  them  in  a  long  passageway.  It  is  curious 
work  to  preach  to  people  whom  you  cannot  sec.  I  confess  I 
like  to  look  at  my  audience  while  I  am  talking.  When  I  got 
through  I  had  great  curiosity  to  see  how-  they  received  my 
message.  I  went  to  a  little  window  in  the  first  cell,  just  a  small 
opening  without  glass,  and  I  could  talk  through  it.  Two  men 
were  in  the  cell  playing  cards;  I  suppose  they  had  been  play- 
ing all  through  the  preaching. 

"  How  is  it  that  you  are  here?  "  I  said. 

One  of  them  spoke  up  and  said: 

"  W'ell,  chaplain,  wc  don't  want  you  to  get  the  idea  that 
we  have  done  anything  wrong;  the  fact  is,  we  got  into  bad 
companv.  and  we  were  arrested  because  we  were  with  bad 
men." 

I  said  to  myself,  "  1  won't  spend  my  time  on  these  men." 
and  I  went  along  to  the  next. 

*'  How'  is  it  that  you  are  here?" 

"  Well,  stranger,  the  man  that  did  the  (]>:c(\  looked  exactly 
like  me.  and  so  they  arrested  me  instead  of  the  guilty  man.  I 
shall  get  out  when  I  have  a  chance  to  ex])lain." 

Another  innocent  man!     So  T  went  along  to  the  next. 

"  How  is  it  that  you  are  here?" 

"  Oh,  T  am  all  right:  talk  to  that  other  man;  T  am  all  right." 

So  T  went  along  to  the  next. 

"  How  is  it  that  you  are  here? 

"  Well,  vou  see.  they  got  a  false  witness  to  go  into  court 


oxi-:   Ki;i'i:xTANT  sinner. 


1/9 


and  swear  to  a  lie;  tliat  is  what  brought  mc  here;  I  am  per- 
fectlv  innocent,  and  I  am  going  to  prosecute  him  when  I  get 
out." 

Another  innocent  man!     So  I  went  along  to  the  next. 

"  How  is  it  that  you  are  here?  " 

"I  am  unjustly  accused;  I  am  going  to  have  a  trial  this 
week,  when  I  will  cstal)lish  my  innocence,  then  I  shall  be  out 
of  prison." 

And  so  I  went  around  among  the  cells.  There  were  be- 
tween three  and  four  hundred  prisoners,  and  I  never  found 
so  many  innocent  men  in  my  life  in  one  day  as  I  did  there;  I 
never  saw  so  many  men  justifying  themselves.  I  said,  I  will 
see  if  I  can  find  a  sinner  in  the  v.hole  crowd. 

Human  nature  doesn't  change  one  bit  by  putting  it  under 
lock  and  key.  I  continued  my  rounds  among  the  cells,  and 
when  I  was  almost  through  I  found  a  poor  fellow  in  one  of 
them  jvith  his  face  resting  on  his  arm,  and  the  tears  running 
down  his  cheeks. 

"  How  is  it  that  you  are  here?" 

He  looked  up  and  said  with  a  sob: 

"  My  sins  are  more  than  I  can  bear." 

"  Well,"  I  said.  "  thank  God  for  that.  You  are  the  man 
I  have  been  looking  for." 

"  Why  have  you  been  looking  for  me;  do  you  know  me?  " 

"  I  never  saw  you  before  in  my  life;  but  you  are  the  man 
I  have  been  looking  for." 

"  Why,"  he  said,  "  you  must  be  the  man  who  preached  to 
us  this  morning!  " 

"  Yes.  sir,  I  am." 

'*  Do  you  say  you  are  glad  my  sins  arc  more  than  I  can 
bear?     I  thought  you  were  a  friend?" 

'■  Yes,  sir,  T  am." 

"  How  do  you  make  it  out?  " 

"  If  your  sins  are  more  than  you  can  bear,  you  will  be  glad 
to  cast  them  on  One  who  can  bear  them  for  you."  I  replied. 

"  I  don't  understand  it,"  he  said. 

12 


l8o  A    CONVICT'S    PRAYER. 

"  Well,  I  have  been  going  all  through  this  prison  trying  to 
find  a  man  that  was  lost." 

I  stood  there  for  half  an  hour  talking  with  him.  It  was 
like  finding  a  cup  of  cold  water  in  the  desert  to  find  in  all  that 
prison  one  man  who  knew  he  was  loai  and  wanted  to  be  saved. 
I  told  him  how  Christ  came  "  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost."     After  I  had  talked  with  him  I  said: 

"  Let  us  pray." 

He  got  down  on  his  knees  on  the  inside  of  the  cell,  and  I 
knelt  down  on  the  outside.     I  said: 

"  You  pray." 

"Oh.  you  don't  know  how  wicked  I  am;  it  would  be 
mockery  for  me  to  pray." 

"  If  you  want  mercy,  ask  for  it,"  I  said. 

He  couldn't  raise  his  head;  but  he  managed  to  cry  out: 

"  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  vile  wretch!  " 

When  I  rose  from  my  knees  I  i)Ut  m_\-  hand  through  the 
little  window,  and  as  he  took  it  a  hot  tear  fell  upon  it.  I  said 
to  him: 

"  I  will  meet  you  at  the  mercy  scat  at  nine  o'clock  to-night." 

That  night  I  had  so  much  liberty  in  prayer  I  felt  as  if  I 
could  not  go  away  without  seeing  him  again.  The  next  morn- 
ing I  went  to  the  Tombs  and  persuaded  the  officers  to  let  me 
visit  him  in  his  cell.  The  moment  he  saw  me  he  grasped  my 
hand  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  to  thank  you;  but  I  never  can  thank 
you  enough  in  time  or  eternity."  Then  he  went  on  to  tell  me 
what  peace  and  joy  had  come  into  his  soul.     He  said: 

"  When  I  was  put  into  this  prison  I  thought  I  never  could 
face  my  friends  again;  now  I  thank  God  I  was  brought  into 
this  cell;  if  I  hadn't  been  brought  here  I  should  not  have  been 
saved." 

"  Tell  me  about  it,"  I  said. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "I  don't  know  just  what  time  it  was 
when  the  Lord  came  in  here,  and  I  can't  tell  just  how  He 
came;  but  I  was  on  my  face  crying  to  God  for  mercy,  and  it 


THE    STAR    OF    BETHLEHEM.  l8l 

seemed  as  if  Jesus  Christ  came  riglit  into  this  cell  and  said  to 
me.  '  Your  sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven.'  I  think  I  am 
the  happiest  man  in  the  whole  State  of  New  York." 

Can  you  tell  nic  why  the  Son  of  man  passed  by  one  cell  after 
another  until  He  found  that  one  cell  and  went  in  there?  It  was 
because  He  found  there  one  who  was  lost,  and  the  Son  of  man 
came  "  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 

I  once  heard  of  a  lady  who  was  exercised  about  her  soul. 
She  dreamed  she  was  in  a  dark,  deep  pit  from  which  she  was 
trying  to  escape.  She  would  climb  up  and  slip  back,  and  at 
last  she  said,  "  I  am  lost!  "  She  lay  down  in  the  pit  to  die, 
and  that  moment  she  looked  up  at  the  mouth  of  the  pit  and 
saw^  a  star  shining  in  all  its  beauty  and  glory,  and  it  seemed  to 
lift  her  up  out  of  herself,  and  out  of  the  pit.  She  was  rejoicing 
that  she  was  to  be  lifted  out  of  the  pit,  but  she  looked  at  her- 
self and  said,  "  I  am  just  the  same,"  and  dropped  back.  Then 
she  fixed  her  eyes  on  the  star  again  and  she  rose  higher  and 
higher  and  higher,  until  she  got  clear  out  of  the  pit;  and  when 
her  feet  rested  on  the  rocks  above  she  shouted  with  joy  and 
awoke  to  find  it  was  only  a  dream.  "  But,"  she  said,  "  I 
learned  a  lesson."  She  found  that  if  she  was  ever  to  get  out 
of  the  pit  of  sin  she  must  keep  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  star  of 
Bethlehem. 

When  I  see  a  poor  drunkard,  when  I  see  a  thief,  when  I 
see  a  prisoner,  it  is  a  grand,  a  glorious  thing  to  proclaim  the 
Gospel  to  him,  because  I  know  he  can  be  saved.  A  prison 
chaplain  once  told  me  of  a  scene  that  occurred  in  prison.  The 
commissioners  went  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  and  asked 
his  consent  to  pardon  live  men  for  good  behavior.  The  Gov- 
ernor consented,  with  the  understanding  that  the  record  was 
to  be  kept  secret,  and  at  the  end  of  six  months  the  five  men 
standing  highest  on  the  roll  should  be  pardoned.  At  the  end 
of  six  months  the  men  were  gathered  in  the  chapel,  the  roll 
was  called,  and  the  president  of  the  commission  spoke  to  them. 
Then,  putting  his  hand  in  his  pocket,  he  drew  out  the  papers, 
and  said  to  those  convicts: 


1 82  A    BEWILDERED    MAN. 

"  1  hold  in  in\-  hand  pardons  for  five  men." 
Every  man  liehi  his  breath,  and  the  place  was  as  silent  as 
the   fi^rave.     Then   the   commissioner   began   to   tell   why   the 
Governor  had  given  these  pardons;  but  the  suspense  was  so 
great  that  the  chaplain  spoke  to  the  commissioner  and  told 
him  to  read  the  names  of  those  pardoned   before  he  spoke 
further.     The  first  name  read  was  that  of  Reuben  Johnson. 
"  Reuben  Johnson  will  come  and  get  his  pardon." 
He  held  out  the  paper,  but  no  one  came.     He  looked  all 
around,  expecting  to  see  a  man  spring  to  his  feet;  still  no  one 
arose,  and  he  turned  to  the  officer  of  the  prison  and  said: 
"Are  all  the  convicts  here?" 
"  Yes,"  was  th.e  reply.     Again  he  called : 
"  Reuben  Johnson  will  come  and  get  his  pardon." 
The  real  Reuben  Johnson  was  all  the  time  looking  around 
to  see  where  Reuben  was;  and  the  chaplain  beckoned  to  him, 
and  he  again  turned  and  looked  around  and  behind  him,  think- 
ing some  other  man  must  ])e  meant.     .\  second  time  he  beck- 
oned to  Reuben,  and  called  to  him,  and  a  tliird  time  the  man 
looked  around  to  see  where  Rcul)en  was.     /\t  last  tiie  chap- 
lain said  to  him: 

"  You  are  the  man,  Reul)en;  "  and  tlic  poor  fellow  got  up 
out  of  his  seat  and  sank  back  again,  thinking  it  could  not  be 
true. 

lie  had  been  in  prison  for  nineteen  years,  and  was  under 
a  life  sentence.  At  last  he  came  forward,  trembling  from  head 
to  foot,  and  looked  at  the  pardon  as  if  he  could  hardly  believe 
his  eyes;  he  went  back  to  his  seat,  buried  his  face  in  his  hands, 
and  wept  like  a  child.  Reuben  had  l)een  so  long  in  the  habit 
of  falling  int(j  line  and  taking  the  lock-ste]i  witli  the  rest  that 
when  the  convicts  were  marched  back  to  their  cells  he  fell  into 
his  place,  and  the  chaplain  had  to  say: 

"  Reuben,  come  out;  you  are  a  free  man." 
That  is  the  way  men  sometimes  work  out  their  ])ardon  — 
by  good  behavior;  but  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  is  offered  to 
all  that  have  sinned  and  are  not  worthv. 


PRKACIllXr.     IN    THE    STREET. 


i«3 


"  But,"  some  say,  "  1  have  tried  to  find  Christ  and  failed." 
Of  course  you  will  fail  as  long  as  you  try  to  save  yourself. 
During-  the  Civil  War  I  received  an  invitation  to  go  into  a 
country  town  and  preach.  I  was  very  busy  at  the  time  and 
couldn't  go  for  some  weeks  after ;  but  there  came  a  day  when  I 
could  go,  and  I  went  to  the  town  and  called  on  the  minister 
who  had  invited  me.     He  said  : 

"  That  letter  was  written  weeks  ago,  but  you  did  not  come 
when  requested,  and  now  it  is  too  late,  the  hall  is  otherwise 
engaged." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  we  can  go  into  the  street  and  preach  the 
Gospel  there." 

I  tell  you,  my  dear  friends,  nearly  every  sermon  that  Christ 
preached  was  out  in  the  open  air.  He  preached  on  the  moun- 
tain side,  and  on  the  sea,  and  in  the  fields.  I  tried  every  way 
I  could  to  get  the  church  people  to  go  into  the  street  with  me, 
but  I  couldn't;  then  I  said  I  would  try  to  get  the  sinners. 
When  the  hour  came  I  stood  upon  a  drygoods  box  and 
preach.ed  the  best  I  could.  You  never  saw  a  colder  crowd  in 
your  life ;  there  were  a  lot  of  young  men  sneaking  around  the 
outside,  afraid  some  one  would  laugh  at  them  ;  they  wanted 
people  to  understand  that  they  were  not  interested. 

After  I  had  been  there  a  few  nights  a  gentleman  drove  up 
one  evening  while  I  was  preaching.  He  had  a  fine  turnout,  a 
magnificent  horse,  a  silk  hat  on  one  side  of  his  head,  and  a 
big  cigar  sticking  out  of  his  mouth;  he  sat  there  until  the  ser- 
mon was  over,  and  pretended  that  he  wasn't  listening,  and  then 
went  away.  To  my  great  amazement,  he  was  back  again  the 
next  night,  and  by  and  by  he  came  quite  regularly. 

One  night  I  noticed  that  his  forehead  itched.  Did  you  ever 
see  a  man  in  a  religious  meeting  have  an  itching  forehead?  A 
good  many  men  consider  it  a  sign  of  weakness  to  shed  a  tear 
in  a  religious  meeting.  I  noticed  that  this  man  took  ofT  his 
hat  and  rubbed  his  forehead,  and  sometimes  he  managed  to 
pass  his  fingers  across  his  eyes.  When  the  meeting  was  over, 
I  said  to  one  of  the  citizens: 


i84 


feETTER    ANGRY    THAN    CARELESS. 


"  Who  is  that  man?     He  is  interested." 

And  the  reply  was:  "  You  ought  to  have  heard  him  make 
sport  of  you  to-day;  I  never  heard  a  man  say  such  things  in 
my  hfe;  if  half  the  things  he  said  about  you  are  true  you  ought 
to  be  hanged.  He  will  tell  more  vile  stories  than  any  one  I 
know;  he  can't  talk  a  minute  without  taking  God's  name  in 
vain;  and  the  habit  is  so  strong  that  he  swears  when  he  doesn't 
know  it." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "he  is  interested;  I  am  sure  of  that;  it  is 
no  sign  that  he  is  not  interested  because  he  abuses  me;  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  a  pretty  good  sign  that  he  is  interested." 

I  have  known  people  to  get  so  angry  that  they  would  talk 
as  hard  as  they  could  against  the  j^reacher  one  night  and  be 
converted  the  next  day.  If  you  see  a  dozen  dogs  together  and 
throw  something  at  them,  it  is  the  dog  that  gets  hit  that  goes 
off  yelping.     I  said: 

"  Where  does  he  live?  " 

He  replied,  "  Don't  go  near  him,  he  will  only  curse  you." 

No  man  can  curse  you;  you  can  bring  curses  down  upon 
yourself,  but  you  can't  curse  anyone  else.  I  questioned  a  little 
further,  and  they  told  me  a  little  more  about  him.  They  said 
he  was  the  wealthiest  man  in  that  part  of  the  country;  he  had  a 
beautiful  wife  and  seven  children,  but  his  influence  was  against 
everything  that  was  good. 

I  found  out  where  he  lived,  and  went  to  his  house.  He  was 
just  coming  out  of  the  front  door.     I  said: 

"  I  believe  this  is  Mr. ?  "       He  turned  around  and 

said  gruffly: 

"  Yes;  what  do  you  want?  " 

"  I  should  Hke  to  ask  you  a  question." 

"What  is  it?" 

"  T  am  told  that  God  has  blessed  you  above  all  men  in  this 
part  of  the  country;  He  has  given  you  good  health,  great 
wealth,  a  good  wife,  and  seven  children;  and  yet  it  is  said  that 
all  God  has  received  from  you  is  blasphemy  and  curses,  and 
I  would  like  to  know  why  you  treat  Him  in  that  way?  " 


d  _  w 

"  SS. 

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ft  -  K. 

p  n    -  2 

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n  p  "  i^ 

Pi  c  O 

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rt  «  O 


c  S.  PI 

'^  c"  n 

v:  -  O 

TO  c  ^ 


POWER    OF    A    BAD    HABIT.  187 

"  Come  in,"  he  said.  He  led  the  way  to  the  drawing-room, 
and  we  sat  down.     Then  he  began : 

"  What  you  said  is  true,  every  word  of  it.  Do  you  know, 
I  had  company  last  week,  and  my  wife  said  she  wanted  the 
floor  to  open  and  let  her  out  of  sight  because  I  kept  on  swear- 
ing, and  I  didn't  know  it.  I  have  tried  a  hundred  times  to 
stop  swearing,  but  the  more  I  try  the  worse  I  swear,  and  I  can't 
be  saved." 

"  I  think  you  can." 

"  You  preachers  don't  know  how  we  business  men  are 
tempted." 

"  I  am  a  business  man  myself,"  I  said.  This  was  just  be- 
fore I  went  out  of  business. 

"  Aren't  you  a  minister?  " 

"  No." 

"  Well,  you  don't  know  how  men  who  are  in  the  habit  of 
swearing  are  tempted.  I  have  sworn  since  I  was  a  little  boy, 
and  the  habit  is  so  strong  that  I  swear  when  I  don't  know  it; 
you  don't  know  anything  about  it." 

"  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you  I  know  a  good  deal  more  about 
it  than  I  wish  I  did.  Of  course  you  meet  a  good  many  men 
who  know  nothing  about  it  by  experience,  but  I  am  sorry  to 
say  I  do." 

"Did  you  ever  swear?" 

"  Yes,  I  am  ashamed  to  say  I  did." 

"  How  did  you  stop?  " 

"  I  never  stopped." 

"  What,  you  don't  swear  now,  do  you?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"Well,"  said  he,  "  how  did  it  come  about?" 

"  It  stopped  itself." 

"  Well,  how  did  you  make  it  stop  itself?  " 

"  I  will  tell  you  how  to  have  it  stop  itself;  if  you  will  take 
Jesus  Christ  right  into  your  heart  you  will  never  swear  again 
as  long  as  you  live.  One  night  I  took  Jesus  Christ  into  my 
heart,  and  when  T  got  up  the  next  morning  there  was  love  in 


1 88  TRYING    TO    PRAY. 

my  heart;  I  didn't  feel  like  cursing;  and  as  I  walked  through 
Boston  Common  it  seemed  as  if  the  birds  were  singing  for  my 
benefit,  and  the  sun  shone  brighter  than  it  ever  did  before; 
from  that  day  to  this  I  never  liave  liad  a  desire  to  swear." 

"  I  don't  understand  it,"  he  said. 

"  I  know  you  don't  understand  it."  I  replied.  "  and  that  is 
why  I  came  to  see  you;  if  God  comes  into  your  heart  you  will 
begin  to  praise  Him  and  pray." 

"  How  can  I  get  God  to  come  into  my  heart?  " 

"  Ask  Him;  get  down  here  and  pray." 

He  said  he  had  never  been  on  his  knees  in  his  life.  He 
didn't  know  how  to  get  down;  his  knees  seemed  to  crack;  it 
was  the  stiffest  kneeling  I  ever  saw.     I  prayed,  and  then  I  said: 

"  Now  you  pray." 

"  I  have  been  trying  all  day;  what  shall  I  say?  " 

"  Ask  God  to  have  mercy  upon  you;  ask  God  to  save  you." 

He  stammered  out  a  prayer,  and  after  we  arose  he  asked: 

"  What  is  the  next  thing  to  do?  " 

"  Go  down  to  the  church  and  tell  God's  people  you  want 
to  be  among  them,  and  that  you  want  them  to  pray  for  you." 

"  I  never  go  to  church;  I  haven't  been  to  church  for  twenty 
years,  unless  it  was  to  the  funeral  of  some  prominent  citizen." 

"  It  is  time  you  did,"  I  said. 

At  the  next  meeting  he  was  there  before  the  minister  was, 
and  he  came  up  and  sat  behind  me.  When  he  arose  he  took 
hold  of  the  back  of  my  seat,  and  I  could  feel  it  tremble,  and  he 
said: 

"  My  friends,  you  know  all  about  me.  If  God  can  save  a 
wretch  like  me  I  want  you  to  pray  that  He  will  save  me." 

There  were  not  nian\'  dry  eves  there.  I  returned  that  day 
to  Chicago  and  I  haven't  been  in  that  town  since. 

Some  years  after.  I  was  out  on  the  Pacific  coast.  I 
preached  at  Pasadena,  and  after  the  service  a  gentleman 
stepped  up  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  will  you  go  over  to  the  hotel  and  take  dinner 
with  me?"     I  hesitated  a  little,  and  he  said: 


A    SOUL    SAVED.  i3q 

"  Do  you  know  me?  " 

"  I  know  your  face,"  I  said. 

'   Don't  you  remember  Mr. ?  " 

"  Yes,  I  do;  is  it  possible  this  is  you?  I  want  you  to  tell 
me  one  thing:  have  you  ever  sworn  since  that  day  when  you 
kneeled  in  your  drawing-room  and  asked  God  to  have  mercy 
on  you?  " 

"  No,  I  never  had  a  desire  to  swear  after  that,"  he  answered. 

Within  three  months  after  his  conversion  he  was  elected 
an  elder  of  the  church,  and  he  had  been  an  elder  ever  since. 

I  believe  that  every  soul  can  be  .saved.  I  believe  that  if 
you  make  an  honest  cry  for  mercy  you  will  get  it.  If  you  want 
salvation  it  is  within  your  reach.  The  vilest  can  pray,  the 
blackest  can  pray,  the  greatest  sinner  can  pray;  if  there  is  an 
honest  appeal  sent  up  from  your  heart  God  will  hear  and 
answer  it. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  HOLY  SPIRIT  AND   HIS  WORK. 

What  Is  the  Holy  Spirit? —  "  What  Made  You  Tell  Mr.  Moody  All 
About  Me?"  —  An  Old  Negro  Preacher's  Observation  —  The 
Clock  Without  Hands  —  "Everything  Going  to  Pieces"  —  A 
"  Long-headed  "  Man  —  One  "  Long  "  Eye,  and  One  "  Short  " 
Eye  —  The  Hon.  Mr.  Lot,  of  Sodom  —  Grumblers  and  Fault- 
finders —  Coming  "  To  See  How  Moody  Does  It  "  —  People  Who 
Write  Letters  to  Mr.  Moody  — "  The  Terrible  Sin  of  Robbing 
Hen-Roosts"  —  A  Caution  to  the  Old  Grave-digger  —  "To  Rent, 
With  or  Without  Power"  —  Two  Ways  of  Digging  a  Well  —  A 
Well  that  "  Froze  up  in  Winter  and  Dried  Up  in  Summer  "  — • 
Forty  Years  of  Work  —  The  "  Boy  Preacher  "  —  The  Old  Wooden 
Pump  on  the  Farm  —  Lots  of  Noise  but  Little  Water — Holding 
Meetings  in  a  Tent  —  Running  Against  a  Man's  Theology. 

I  REMEMBER,  after  I  had  been  a  Christian  about  ten 
years,  hearing  an  old  Presbyterian  minister  say,  in  an 
evening  prayer-meeting'  in  Chicago,  tliat  we  do  not  honor 
the  Holy  Ghost  as  we  ought  to  when  we  speak  of  Ilim  as  an 
influence,  not  as  a  person.  Up  to  that  time  I  had  always 
looked  upon  the  Holy  Ghost  as  one  of  the  attributes  of  God, 
like  Mercy,  Love,  and  Justice,  and  I  thought  the  old  man  was 
a  little  out  of  his  head.  After  reaching  home  I  took  my 
Bible  and  read  all  there  was  in  the  Gospels  about  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  I  found  that  Christ  always  spoke  of  Him  as  a  per- 
son, never  as  a  mere  influence. 

The  Bible  ought  to  settle,  it  seems  to  me,  all  doubt  in  our 
minds  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  a  person,  and  not  merely  an  in- 
fluence; and  if  we  want  to  honor  Him,  let  us  treat  Him  as  one 
of  the  Trinity,  a  personality  of  the  Godhead. 

Now  if  I  should  ask  what  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world 
to  do,  you  would  say  that  He  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that 

(190) 


tHE    WORK    OF    THK    SPIRIT. 


191 


which  was  lost;  that  He  came  to  reveal  the  Father;  but  if  1 
should  ask  what  the  Holy  Ghost  came  to  do,  I  believe  a  good 
manv  would  have  a  little  difficulty  in  answering  the  question. 
I  was  in  the  church  a  long  time  before  I  took  pains  to  look  into 
the  subject  to  know  what  is  His  work  in  this  world. 

In  the  first  place,  His  work  is  to  convict  of  sin.  I  believe 
I  had  rather  go  out  in  the  street  to-day  and  break  stone  or 
shovel  snow  than  attempt  to  do  the  work  of  convicting  an 
audience  of  sin.  Thank  God,  that  is  not  my  work!  There  is 
no  power  that  can  convince  a  man  or  woman  of  the  exceeding 
sinfulness  of  unbelief  except  that  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  be- 
lieve Elijah  might  come  back  here  and  preach  as  he  did  on 
Mt.  Carmel,  and  if  the  Holy  Ghost  did  not  convict  of  sin,  not 
one  soul  would  be  convinced.  I  believe  that  Gabriel  might 
come  and  preach  as  only  an  angel  could,  and  if  the  Holy  Ghost 
didn't  work  in  the  hearts  and  consciences  of  men,  not  a  soul 
would  be  convinced. 

People  do  not  want  to  be  troubled;  they  don't  like  to  be 
told  their  faults.  If  a  minister  only  flatters  us  and  tells  us  that 
we  are  such  very  good  people,  and  so  angelic,  that  is  just  what 
we  like.  I  heard  of  a  man  who  said  he  liked  to  go  to  a  certain 
church  because  the  minister  never  touched  on  religion  or 
poHtics.  A  friend  and  I  once  found  a  man  asleep  on  the  side- 
walk. It  was  one  of  the  coldest  days  of  winter,  and  we  knew 
he  would  freeze  if  we  didn't  wake  him.  We  awoke  him,  and 
he  got  mad  and  wanted  to  fight.  That  was  just  what  we 
wanted  —  to  get  his  blood  stirred  and  then  he  would  be  all 
right.  Sometimes  the  Holy  Ghost  wakes  up  men  and  they 
wake  up  angry.  There  are  a  good  many  people  who  don't 
want  their  consciences  disturbed;  but  when  the  Holy  Ghost 
works  upon  everybody,  there  will  be  some  troubled  ones.  I 
have  known  people  to  go  out  of  our  meetings  and  slam  the 
door  behind  them  as  hard  as  they  could.  That  is  not  a  bad 
sign;  I  would  rather  have  them  go  out  mad  than  go  to  sleep. 

I  remember  when  I  was  preaching  in  Philadelphia  a  lady 
and  her  husband  were  present  at  one  of  the  meetings.     As  she 


IQ2  A    MAX  SELF-CONDEMNED. 

took  liis  arm  to  go  home,  she  made  some  remark  about  the 
meeting,  and  he  was  as  cross  as  could  he;  she  couldn't  get  a 
word  out  of  him.  He  had  never  before,  since  they  were 
married,  let  a  night  pass  without  kissing  her.  and  she  fell  that 
she  had  made  a  great  mistake  in  trying  to  get  him  out  to  those 
meetings.  The  next  morning  when  she  spoke  to  him  he 
wouldn't  answer,  and  it  was  the  same  way  at  noon  and  at 
night.  He  kept  that  up  for  a  whole  week.  Finally,  when  he 
couldn't  hold  in  any  longer,  he  said: 

"Wife,  what  made  you  tell  Mr.  Moody  all  about  me?" 
"  Why,"  said  she,  "  I  never  spoke  to  Mr.  Aloody  in  my  life." 
"  Then  you  have  written  to  him  about  me." 
"  No,  I  have  never  written  to  him,  and  he  didn't  know  you 
were  there." 

"Well,"  he  said,  "  I  never  saw  him  before  in  my  life;  but 
the  wretch  held  me  up  before  that  audience  for  a  whole  hour, 
and  told  them  all  about  me." 

I  wisli  1  had  the  power  to  make  every  one  think  I  was 
preaching  right  at  him  individually.  The  greatest  trouble  is, 
as  the  old  negro  preacher  told  his  congregation,  people  are 
very  liberal  with  sermons  and  give  them  all  away.  I  was  once 
preaching  in  a  church  that  had  been  l)uilt  by  a  rich  whiskey 
dealer,  and  when  I  found  that  out  1  bore  down  on  him  pretty 
hard;  but  after  the  service  he  came  to  me  and  earnestly  told 
me  what  a  fine  sermon  it  was.  He  had  applied  it  to  somebody 
else.  When  the  Spirit  of  God  works,  He  applies  the  truth, 
and  just  carries  the  truth  home  to  the  heart  and  conscience, 
and  conviction  follows.  That  is  what  we  want,  and  we  are 
going  to  get  that  by  honoring  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  are  not 
going  to  get  it  from  the  minister;  he  hasn't  got  that  power. 

After  a  man  has  been  convicted  and  is  willing  to  give  up 
sin.  the  next  thing  the  .Sjiirit  does  is  to  shed  abroad  the  love 
of  God  in  the  heart.  People  try  to  make  themselves  love,  but 
they  can't  do  that.  Love  nuist  be  spontaneous.  You  may 
try  to  love  an  unlovely  person,  but  you  can't  do  it  by  trying. 
Love  is  shed  abroad  by  the  Spirit. 


LOVE    MUST    HAVE    AN  OUTLET. 


193 


I  thought  w  hen  I  was  converted  that  every  Christian  ought 
to  wear  a  badge,  —  an  outside  badge,  —  but  I  have  changed 
ni\'  mind,  because  if  that  was  done  every  hypocrite  would  get 
a  badge  and  put  it  on.  When  Christ  was  on  earth  He  said, 
"  A  new  connnandnient  I  give  unto  you,  That  ye  love  one 
another."  If  we  are  filled  with  love,  even  infidels  and  skeptics 
will  say:  "  Those  people  are  Christians."  I  have  seen  it  over 
and  over  again. 

A  man  may  be  a  miser  with  his  money,  and  with  his  com- 
forts, but  he  cannot  be  a  miser  with  his  love.  Love  must  have 
an  outlet.  You  cannot  keep  it.  It  must  have  an  object  out- 
side of  itself.  When  a  man  is  filled  with  the  love  of  God,  he 
cannot  help  but  work  for  Him.  A  man  may  be  a  successful 
merchant,  but  have  no  love  for  his  customers;  he  may  be  a 
successful  lawyer,  and  have  no  love  for  his  clients;  he  may  be 
a  successful  doctor,  and  have  no  love  for  his  patients;  but  a 
man  cannot  work  for  God  without  love.  He  can't  do  it.  A 
man's  religion  that  has  no  love  in  it  is  like  a  clock  without 
hands.  It  may  have  beautiful  machinery,  and  you  may  put  it 
in  a  fine  case  and  stud  it  with  diamonds,  but  it  will  not  be  worth 
anything  as  a  timekeeper.  A  person  has  got  to  love,  to  win 
other  people  to  Christ.  If  I  am  cross  and  peevish  and  disa- 
greeable, I  may  be  ever  so  sound  in  doctrine,  but  I  shall  not 
win  any  one  to  accept  it.  They  will  hate  me,  and  hate  it,  and 
despise  it. 

I  once  went  into  a  restaurant  with  a  couple  of  professing 
Christians,  and  we  sat  there  five  minutes;  and  one  of  them  — 
he  was  a  prominent  man  —  called  up  the  head  waiter,  and  said 
in  a  loud  voice,  "  What  does  this  mean,  sir?  We  have  been 
here  half  an  hour  waiting  for  some  one  to  come,"  and  he  gave 
the  head  waiter  a  good  blowing  up.  That  man  knew  there 
was  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  We  hadn't  been  there  over  five 
minutes.  T  was  ashamed  of  the  company  I  was  in,  and  have 
been  careful  not  to  be  caught  again.  Yet  that  man  boasted 
of  his  sound  theology.  He  lives  on  that.  What  do  I  care 
for  his  theology?     You  have  got  to  be  lovely  yourself  if  you 


194 


THE    WAY    TO    LIBERTY. 


are  going  to  win  other  love.  Love  begets  love;  a  smile  begets 
a  smile.  You  have  got  to  win  souls,  not  drive  them  away.  It 
takes  true  wisdom  to  do  that. 

The  next  thing  the  Spirit  of  God  does,  is  to  impart  hope. 
I  never  have  seen  a  man  or  woman  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
God  who  did  not  hope.  They  look  on  the  bright  side  all  the 
time;  they  look  into  the  future,  and  find  there  is  nothing  but 
victory  ahead.  Where  the  Spirit  of  God  is  there  is  liberty. 
In  some  churches  if  a  man  gets  up  to  speak  he  is  hampered. 
You  have  seen  men  in  the  pulpit  who  were  floundering  around 
and  couldn't  get  on.  Ministers  know  what  I  am  talking 
about.  I  have  been  there  myself  lots  of  times.  Sometimes 
the  fault  was  with  D.  L.  Moody,  and  sometimes  it  was  in  the 
congregation.  The  Holy  Ghost  has  got  to  have  an  atmos- 
phere to  work  in. 

A  friend  of  mine  was  teaching  in  Natchez  before  the  Civil 
War,  and  he  and  a  friend  went  out  riding  one  Saturday  and 
drove  into  the  country.  Seeing  an  old  slave  coming  up,  they 
thought  they  would  have  a  little  fun.  They  had  just  come  to  a 
place  where  there  was  a  fork  in  the  roads,  and  there  was  a  sign- 
post which  read,  "  Forty  miles  to  Liberty."  One  of  the 
young  men  said  to  the  old  darkey: 

"  Sambo,  how  old  are  you? " 

"  I  don't  know,  massa.       I  reckon  I'se  'bout  eighty." 

"  Can  you  read?  " 

"  No,  sah;  we  don't  read  in  dis  yer  country.  It's  agin  de 
law." 

"  Can  you  tell  what  is  on  that  signpost?" 

"  Yes,  sah;  it  says  '  Forty  miles  to  Liberty.'  " 

"  Well,  now,"  said  my  friend,  "  why  don't  you  follow  that 
road  and  get  your  liberty?  " 

The  old  man's  countenance  changed,  and  he  said: 

"  Oh,  massa,  dat  is  all  a  sham.  If  dat  post  p'inted  out  de 
road  to  de  liberty  dat  God  gives,  we  might  try  it.  Dar 
wouldn't  be  no  sham  'bout  dat." 

My  friend  said  he  had  never  heard  anything  more  eloquent 


THE    HABIT    OP'    SILENCE. 


195 


from  the  lips  of  any  preacher.  God  wants  ah  his  sons  to  have 
Hberty. 

A  friend  of  mine  once  asked  a  judge  in  his  church  to  ac- 
company him  to  a  schoolhouse  in  the  country,  where  he  was 
going  to  preach.  He  told  the  judge  he  would  like  to  have 
him  speak  to  the  people.  The  judge  said,  "  Oh,  I  can't  do 
that."  "  Why  can't  you?  You  can  speak  in  court  well 
enough,  and  without  any  trouble.  Why  can't  you  speak  here? 
Suppose  you  just  try  it."  When  they  arrived  the  judge  de- 
clined to  speak,  but  the  minister  said,  "  I  want  to  put  the  judge 
into  the  witness-box  and  question  him."  And  the  judge  got 
his  lips  open  at  last  and  told  how  he  was  converted,  and  how 
the  spirit  of  God  came  down  upon  him.  There  was  mighty 
power  in  what  he  said,  and  the  result  was  that  many  were  con- 
verted, and  the  judge  became  an  earnest  working  Christian. 
I  think  there  are  hundreds  bound,  as  he  was,  by  station.  I 
met  at  a  meeting  a  man  whom  I  had  known  to  be  a  professing 
Christian  for  three  years,  and  I  supposed  of  course  he  had 
prayed  in  public.  I  noticed  that  he  hesitated  when  I  asked 
him,  but  he  rose,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  opened  his  lips  the 
words  came  easil}-.  I  heard  him  tell  a  friend  afterward  that 
that  night  he  felt  as  if  he  had  been  converted  a  second  time. 
How  many  there  are  in  the  church  that  are  bound  to  silence 
by  long  habit! 

I  believe  that  the  weakness  of  many  Christians  is  that  they 
are  trying  to  do  their  work  with  money,  or  with  influence,  or 
with  intellectual  and  social  power.  These  are  all  right  in  their 
place,  but  they  are  not  going  to  redeem  the  world. 

I  suppose  if  you  had  gone  to  Sodom  a  week  before  its  de- 
struction, they  would  have  told  you  that  Mr.  Lot  was  one  of 
the  most  influential  men  in  that  city,  —  perhaps  had  the  finest 
"  turn-out  "  and  owned  some  of  tlic  best  corner  lots  in  the 
town.  If  you  had  talked  with  him  aliout  removing  your  busi- 
ness and  your  family  down  to  Sodom,  he  would  have  said, 
"  Well,  I  am  doing  very  much  better  here  than  Abraham  is 
doing  on  the  plains  with  his  tent  and  his  altar."     A  good  many 


196 


LONG    AND    SHOR'l"    SICHT. 


men,  no  doubt,  thought  Lot  "  long-headed."  Sucli  men  may 
be  the  most  successful  of  business  men,  but  their  children  may 
be  going  to  ruin  while  they  are  ]Hishing  for  money.  Such  a 
man  is  often  called  "  long-headed."     The  Lord  pity  him! 

I  had  a  friend  once  who  said  he  could  never  understand 
why  his  wife  was  ahva\s  so  eager  to  buy  ]:)aintings.  He 
couldn't  see  any  beauty  in  tlieni.  A  few  years  ago  his  sight 
began  to  fail.  He  went  to  an  oculist,  who  said  to  him.  "  My 
dear  sir.  how  have  you  got  along  all  these  years?  You  have 
one  *  long  '  eye  and  one  '  short  '  eye.  and  you  never  saw  any- 
thing straight."  He  fitted  him  out  witli  glasses,  and  he  be- 
came even  more  interested  in  paintings  than  his  wifv.'  was.  He 
built  an  art  gallery  and  filled  it.  and  "  saw  "  beautifully.  Many 
a  Christian  has  a  '"  long  "  e_\e  and  a  "  short  "  eye.  You  can 
never  sec  clearly  in  that  way. 

Abraham  was  a  long-sighted  man  and  Lot  a  short-sighted 
man.  Lot  saw  the  well-watered  plam  of  Sodom,  and  chose  it 
for  himself  and  family.  I  suppose  if  there  had  been  a  railroad 
running  from  Sodom  to  Jerusalem.  Mr.  Lot  would  have  been 
the  president  of  it.  He  would  have  been  universally  spoken  of 
as  the  Hon.  Mr.  Lot,  of  Sodom.  .Vn  honorable  name,  but 
his  family  was  going  to  ruin  all  the  time.  Lot  was  a  man  of 
great  influence,  but  I  can  find  a  thousand  Lots  where  T  can 
find  one  Abraham.  I  can  find  a  thousand  men  piling  u])  their 
millions  and  all  the  time  tlu'ir  children  are  going  to  perdition. 

Get  the  spirit  of  criticism  and  grumbling  out  of  the  way 
and  go  to  work.  Men  and  women  who  are  doing  nothing 
easily  get  into  the  habit  of  finding  fault ;  then  they  write  letters. 
and  criticise  the  minister,  and  tell  liow  he  ought  to  i)reach. 
That  is  part  of  the  business  of  peojjle  who  have  nothing  to 
do;  I  have  seen  it  over  and  over  again.  People  go  out  from 
a  meeting  and  say  of  the  preacher.  "  What  do  you  think  of 
him.  anyhow?"  "Why.  I  must  confess  I  was  greatly  disap- 
pointed. I  like  that  man  in  St.  Paul's  Church  better."  "  Oh, 
Fd  rather  hear  our  pastor  any  (la\-.  There  are  plenty  of  men 
who  can  preach  better  than  he  can."     "  I  didn't  like  his  ges- 


CAPTIOUS    CRITICISM. 


197 


tures;  I  don't  like  his  manner."  "  He  wasn't  logical;  I  have 
got  a  logical  turn  of  mind,  and  when  I  go  to  hear  preaching, 
I  want  to  hear  logic."  "  He  was  not  argumentative;  I  am  of 
an  argumentative  turn  of  mind,  and  I  like  argument."  "  I 
have  a  good  deal  of  hard  work  during  the  week,  and  when  I 
go  to  church  I  want  a  man  to  appeal  to  my  emotions.  If  he 
don't  appeal  to  my  emotions,  I  don't  like  him.  He  isn't  my 
style,  anyway."  And  so  they  pick  the  preacher  to  pieces,  and 
wonder  whv  thcv  don't  have  a  blessing.  Anyone  can  criticise. 
I  have  always  noticed  if  a  man  fails  in  everything  else  he  can 
go  into  the  business  of  criticising.  And  if  they  can't  reach 
me  in  any  other  wa}',  they'll  write  me  letters.  It  takes  neither 
brains  nor  heart  to  do  that;  anyone  can  do  that.  I  have  had 
men  tell  me  how  to  preach  who  couldn't  find  enough  people 
to  preach  to.  I  have  seen  people  come  to  our  meetings  and 
sit  with  their  brows  knit  to  "  see  how  ]\Ioody  does  it."  Never 
think  of  praying  for  me,  —  onl}-  want  to  "  see  how  he  does 
it !  "  They  come  on  the  platform  to  "  see  what  is  the  secret 
of  his  success."  There  is  no  secret;  nothing  mysterious.  Get 
up  and  go  to  work,  and  pray  (jod  to  teach  you  the  secret,  and 
stop  fault-finding  and  grumbling. 

A  great  many  people  have  had  their  feelings  terribly 
wounded,  and  have  written  me  letters,  because  I  have  spoken 
of  some  things  in  the  church  that  ought  not  to  be  there.  Do 
you  tell  me  I  don't  love  the  church?  Do  you  think  I  would 
have  given  up  business  over  forty  years  ago,  and  given  my 
whole  life,  and  all  I  have,  if  T  didn't  love  the  church?  I  know 
I  love  it,  but  "  faithful  arc  the  wounds  of  a  friend."  If  there  is 
anything  wrong  in  the  church,  let  us  get  it  right.  One  minis- 
ter said  if  he  overhauled  his  church  he  would  lose  his  pastor- 
ate. Lose  it!  I  would  rather  be  out  of  the  church  if  I  did 
not  have  liberty  to  preach. 

Some  one  asked  an  old  colored  man  how  he  liked  his 
minister. 

"  Oh,"    said    he,    "  he's    a    fine    preacher!     Such    a    good 
preacher." 
13 


198 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST. 


"  What  did  he  preach  on  this  morning?  " 

"  This  morning?  Oh,  let  me  see,  he  had  for  his  subject  the 
terrible  sin  of  robbing  henroosts,  but  he  was  so  polite  he  didn't 
hurt  nobody's  feelings." 

V\c  don't  want  to  be  "  i)olite  "  in  that  sense.  I  want  to 
hurt  people's  feelings  if  they  are  doing  wrong. 

When  Christ  died  on  the  cross  the  veil  of  the  Temple  was 
rent  in  twain;  and  from  that  time  on  these  bodies  of  ours  be- 
came the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Christ  said,  "  He  dwcll- 
eth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you."  Don't  get  the  idea  that 
He  comes  to  you  in  church  and  leaves  you  when  you  go  out 
of  doors.  He  shall  abide  with  you.  If  this  is  true,  ought  we 
not  to  take  good  care  of  these  bodies?  If  they  are  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  ought  we  not  to  keep  them  pure  and  sweet? 
I  never  had  the  advantage  of  an  education,  but  when  God 
called  me  into  His  service,  I  hungered  and  thirsted  to  be  used 
by  Him,  and  I  wanted  to  get  hold  of  the  Bible.  I  left  this 
country  and  went  to  England,  that  I  might  sit  at  the  feet  of 
Charles  Spurgeon  and  George  Aliiller.  Spurgeon  said  to  me 
something  I  have  never  forgotten.  He  said,  "  Young  man, 
take  good  care  of  your  body,  because  it  is  a  temple  for  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  dwell  in.  You  can't  take  care  of  your  soul; 
God  must  take  care  of  tliat;  but  you  can  take  care  of  the  temple 
it  dwells  in."  If  these  bodies  are  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  ought  we  to  defile  them  with  whiskey  and  tobacco? 

I  heard  Andrew  Bonar  say.  when  he  was  in  this  country 
many  years  ago,  that  once  when  they  were  burying  a  saint  of 
God,  and  because  he  was  old  and  very  poor,  and  his  children 
and  friends  had  all  passed  on  before  him,  the  bearers  were 
hurrying  him  away  to  the  grave  as  fast  as  they  could.  An  old 
minister  was  officiating,  and  as  they  were  hurrying  to  get  the 
body  into  the  grave,  he  said  to  the  grave-digger,  "  Mon,  tread 
softly,  ye  bear  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  And  when  I 
think  of  this  body  of  mine  being  a  temple  for  the  Holy  Ghost. 
and  that  it  belongs  to  God,  and  it  is  not  my  own.  T  feel  as  if  1 
want  to  keep  it  as  pure  and  sweet  as  I  can.     May  God  help  us 


WITH    OR    WITHOUT    POWER. 


199 


all.  And  I  believe  when  the  temple  is  ready,  God  will  come 
and  fill  it. 

Now  we  come  to  the  question,  What  is  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Spirit?  The  moment  you  arc  "  born  again,"  the  Holy 
Spirit  comes  into  your  heart  and  makes  it  His  temple.  "  Be- 
hold, I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock  ;  if  any  man  hear  My  voice, 
and  open  the  door,  T  will  come  in  to  him."  Your  body  and 
mine  is  the  temple  of  God.  Xo  Christian  can  receive  more  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  than  he  alrcad}'  has.  If  you  should  invite  me 
to  come  and  spend  a  week  with  you,  I  would  not  come  in  sec- 
tions, first  my  head,  then  my  arms,  then  some  other  part  of 
my  body.  All  there  is  of  me  would  come  at  once,  because 
that  is  the  only  way  I  can  come.  The  Iloly  Spirit  is  a  person, 
and  when  He  comes,  all  there  is  of  Him  will  come  at  once 

J  heard  Dr.  Gordon  say  that  you  might  walk  through  any 
great  city  thoroughfare  and  you  very  often  would  notice  the 
sign,  "  This  shop  to  rent,  with  or  without  power."  He  thought 
it  was  very  suggestive,  and  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  to 
apply  to  Christians.  Now,  do  you  want  to  be  numbered 
among  those  with  power,  or  without  power?  If  you  want  to 
be  numbered  among  those  with  power,  pray  that  God  may 
give  you  power,  and  that  you  may  be  quickened  as  God  wants 
to  quicken  us. 

"  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me,  and  drink.  He 
that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his 
belly  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water."  Better  than  showers, 
isn't  it?  Better  even  than  a  spring.  There  is  a  spring  up  in 
the  mountain  near  my  home  that  feeds  a  little  brook,  and  that 
little  brook  goes  babbling  over  its  pebbly  bed,  making  a  noise 
all  the  time  and  always  making  itself  known;  but  when  the 
heat  of  summer  comes  the  waters  of  that  brook  are  dried  up, 
and  there  is  nothing  left  of  it.  Then,  not  far  away,  is  the  great, 
silent  Connecticut  River.  I  never  hear  that  river;  would  not 
know  it  was  there,  because  it  does  not  make  any  noise;  but 
follow  it  down  in  its  silent  course  and  you  will  find  all  along  its 
banks  great  mills  and  manufactories  that  are  given  power  by 


":\t 


?co 


DIGGING    FUR    WA  TKR 


its  waters.  1  believe  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  one  to  have 
the  Spirit  of  God  resting  upon  him,  so  that  he  will  be  just  like 
that  river. 

There  are  two  ways  of  digging  a  well.  One  is  to  dig  until 
you  come  to  water,  and  stop  there,  though  the  water  won't 
last  long.  Another  is,  to  dig  down  and  down  and  down  till 
you  get  a  never-failing  supply.  Some  of  our  Mt.  llermon 
boys  once  undertook  to  dig  a  well.  When  they  got  down  six 
or  eight  feet  they  struck  water.  .\  pump  was  jnit  in  and  set 
in  motion,  and  very  s()t)n  the  well  was  ])umpe(l  dr\ .  Then 
they  went  on  digging  till  they  struck  a  rock,  and  the  water 
burst  forth.  They  thought  they  had  got  deep  enough  that 
time.  But  when  the  pump  was  set  to  work,  it  wasn't  many 
days  before  the  well  was  dry  again.  \\'e  said  we  nuistn't  stop 
till  we  got  to  where  the  water  couldn't  he  exhausted.  So  we 
went  down  and  down  till  we  struck  clay,  and  then  gravel,  and 
then  flinty  rock;  and  at  last  we  got  to  a  lower  stratum  that 
}-iekk(l  a  never-failing  sup])ly  of  water. 

I  remember  the  first  time  T  was  in  California  T  stood  in  a 
valley  and  noticed  that  in  one  section  vegetation  was  green 
and  vigorous.  TUU  just  over  the  fence  everything  w^as  dried 
u\).  (  )n  that  side  of  the  fence  was  another  ranch,  and  tln're 
was  scarcely  a  bit  of  vegetation  there.  I  thought  that  was 
verv  curious,  and  T  said  to  a  farmhand:  "Can  you  explain 
whv  on  one  side  of  the  fence  vegetation  is  fresh  and  green,  and 
on  the  other  side  it  is  all  dried  u])?  "  "  ( )h,  _\es,"  said  he,  "  one 
man  irrigates  —  he  l)rings  water  down  from  tin-  mountain  and 
thoroughly  waters  his  farm.  The  other  doesn't."  1  think  that 
is  the  wav  with  a  good  many  Christians  in  oiu'  churches. 
.Some  are  dried  uj) :  but  others  have  a  secret  connnunica- 
tion  between  their  souls  and  Heaven,  and  Cod  sends  the  water 
to  them  and  keeps  them  always  fresh.  "Sou  may  be  as  dry  as 
Gideon's  fleece  —  all  dried  u])  — no  ])()wer  at  all;  btU  il  is  the 
privilege  of  each  one  of  us  to  have  the  dew  of  Heaven  resting 
upon  us  all  the  while.     That  is  what  God  wants. 

Drink  deep;  don't  be  satisfied  with  merel\  "  getting  water." 


A    CONSl^X'RATKl)    LIFK.  20I 

If  I  have  got  a  tiiml)Icr  full  of  water,  I  can  say  I've  got  water 
as  much  as  if  I  owned  a  river ;  and  you  can  say  a  great  many 
people  have  Christ,  but  you  have  got  to  probe  deep  to  find 
life.  Jesus  came  that  we  might  have  life,  and  that  we  might 
have  it  "  more  abundantly."  A  man  said  he  had  a  well,  a  good 
well,  only  "  it  froze  up  in  winter,  and  dried  up  in  summer." 
There  are  many  Christians  who  are  just  like  that.  People 
talk  about  "  spasmodic  effort."  I  am  as  much  opposed  to 
that  as  any  other  man.  T  don't  believe  in  spasmodic  efforts. 
When  a  man  drinks  as  God  wants  him,  he  can't  help  working 
summer  or  winter. 

T  am  one  of  those  old-fashioned  people  who  believe  the 
liible.  I  believe  it  is  literally  true  of  any  man  who  examines 
it  with  the  Spirit  that  rivers  of  truth  will  flow  out  of  him.  As 
a  tree  is  full  of  sap.  so  is  the  Christian  who  is  full  of  the  Spirit. 
The  tree  full  of  sap  will  bear  leaves  and  blossoms  and  fruit. 
And  when  a  man  is  full  of  the  breath  of  God,  his  life  will  be 
filled  with  fruit. 

You  haven't  got  to  go  back  to  the  days  of  ]\Iartin  Luther. 
or  to  Wesley,  or  to  Whirefield.  l.\v  a  good  deal,  to  find  lives  that 
have  been  filled  with  fruit.  Only  a  few  years  ago  a  man  died, 
—  no,  thank  God  !  he  never  died,  he  lives  more  now  than  ever 
before  —  who  had  never  been  to  Oxford,  or  Cambridge;  but 
God  said  to  him,  "  Charles,  you  go  to  London  and  I  will  let 
rivers  of  life  flow  from  you."  He  went  to  London,  and  stayed 
there  forty  years,  and  tens  of  thousands  listened  to  him  every 
Sunday;  and  no  man  ever  attracted  such  vast  crowds  under 
one  roof.  At  first  they  called  him  a  "  Boy  Preacher."  They 
laughed  at  and  ridiculed  him.  They  tried  to  make  him  out  an 
ignorant  clown.  P.ut  see  where  his  influence  is  to-day.  See 
what  power  he  has  to-day,  and  what  he  had  for  forty  years. 
Every  Thursday  a  sermon  of  h.is  came  out  printed  in  many 
languages,  and  it  went  into  all  the  corners  of  the  earth,  and 
thus  he  preached  to  people  everywhere.  I  cannot  begin  to  tell 
of  the  results  of  that  one  man's  work.  He  founded  an  orphan 
asylum  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  boys,  and  another  for  two 


202  Sl'URC.KOX'S    WONDP'.RFUL    IXKH'KNCE. 

hundred  and  fifty  girls,  \vhcre  children  taken  from  the  streets 
were  given  a  home  and  trained  in  ways  of  righteousness.  He 
founded  one  of  the  finest  theological  seminaries  in  the  world, 
which  is  constantly  training  young  men  for  the  ministry;  he 
had  a  society  of  colporteurs  circulating  good  books;  he  had 
evangelists  that  went  all  over  London  and  the  suburbs  preach- 
ing the  Gospel ;  he  had  an  institution  that  he  called  a  "  poor 
man's  house,"  where  he  gathered  in  the  poor  and  forsaken  and 
preached  the  Gospel  to  them.  When  I  was  in  London  many 
years  ago  there  were  at  that  time  eighty  churches  in  the  city 
and  its  vicinity  that  had  sprung  up  through  that  man's  efforts. 
You  can  hardly  go  into  a  minister's  library  anywhere  to-day 
that  you  do  not  find  volumes  of  Charles  Spurgeon's  sermons. 
He  fed  the  flock  of  God  for  forty  years  in  a  great  many  differ- 
ent ways.  How  many  different  volumes  of  books  have  come 
from  his  pen!  How  many  streams  of  life  he  set  in  motion! 
I  don't  believe  the  four  walls  oi  any  church  can  hold  the  in- 
fluence of  a  man  filled  with  the  spirit  of  God.  I  believe  the 
world  has  yet  to  sec  what  God  can  do  with  a  man  full  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

I  remember  an  old' wooden  pump  on  the  farm  when  1  was 
a  boy.  and  how  I  used  to  pump  water  for  the  cattle  and  pump 
for  the  family,  pump,  pump,  pump,  until  it  seemed  as 
though  my  arm  v.-ould  drop  off;  and  sometimes  the  old  ]nunp 
would  squeak  and  make  a  good  deal  of  noise,  and  I  wouldn't 
get  much  water.  I  find  lots  of  people  pumping  away,  squeak- 
ing and  making  a  great  deal  of  noise,  but  they  get  hardly  any 
water.  They  are  ])umping  out  of  dry  wells.  Haven't  you 
seen  people  pump  and  pump,  and  talk  and  talk  like  a  parrot, 
and  all  they  said  didn't  amount  to  anything?  No  heart  in  it! 
No  power! 

A  lady  once  came  to  me  at  the  close  of  a  service  and  said: 

"  ]\Ir.  ]\Ioody.  you  have  made  me  perfectly  miserable." 

"  How  is  that?"  I  said. 

"  Whv,  you  said  you  pitied  a  woman  wlio  had  no  religious 
home  influence  over  her  husband  and  family.     When  I  mar- 


AN    IRRITABLE    CHRISTIAN.  203 

ricd  my  husband,  I  thought  I  would  soon  bring  him  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  I  thought  I  should  have  no  trouble  in  get- 
ting him  to  come  to  Christ;  but  now  I  think  he  is  further  away 
than  he  w-as  then,  and  I  have  not  as  much  influence  as  I  used 
to  have.  When  I  try  to  talk  with  him  about  his  soul  it  is  a 
forced  conversation,  and  I  can't  talk  with  him  about  eternal 
things.  I  have  trouble  with  my  servants  all  the  time,  and  I 
never  have  been  able  to  help  one  of  them  to  Christ,  although 
I  have  wanted  to." 

"  Would  you  allow  me  to  speak  very  plainly  with  you?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Don't  you  get  angry  with  your  husband  once  in  a  while, 
and  give  him  what  in  New  England  we  sometimes  call  '  a  good 
blowing  up  ' ;  and  then  when  you  want  to  talk  to  him  about 
becoming  a  Christian,  you  have  a  feeling  that  he  will  say, 
'  You  had  better  look  at  home,  you  are  no  better  than  I  am  ?  '  " 

"  Yes,  Mr.  A'loody,  that  is  true." 

*'  Then,  instead  of  praying  for  your  husband,  hadn't  I 
better  pray  for  you?  " 

She  asked  me  to  pray  for  her,  and  I  did.  Some  days  after 
that  she  came  to  me  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  to  thank  you  for  talking  to  me  as 
plainly  as  you  did  the  other  day.  If  I  had  known  that  you 
were  going  to  talk  to  me  in  that  way  I  wouldn't  have  come 
near  you.  When  I  left  you  I  went  home  and  locked  myself  up 
with  God,  and  my  conscience  searched  my  soul  and  revealed 
me  to  myself.  I  saw  how  irritable  I  had  been,  and  how  I  had 
scolded  my  husband  without  provocation;  then  I  noticed  that 
my  conduct  with  my  servants  had  not  been  at  all  Christ-like. 
When  my  husband  came  home  that  night  I  met  him  at  the 
door  and  asked  him  to  forgive  me.  He  was  very  much  sur- 
prised and  wanted  to  know  what  I  had  been  domg.  I  said, 
'  Well,  you  know  we  have  been  married  now  for  so  many 
years,  and  I  haven't  lived  as  a  Christian  ought  to  live.  I 
haven't  been  consistent;  I  have  been  cross  and  irritable  so 
many  times,  and  I  have  scolded  so  many  times  without  cause, 


204 


THE    IIKiilER    LIFE. 


and  my  life  has  l)ccn  sucli  that  I  am  afraid  I  have  kept  you 
from  becoming  a  Christian,  and  Clod  knows  1  love  you  better 
than  any  one  on  earth,  and  1  wouldn't  stand  between  you  and 
God  for  all  the  world.'  My  husband  couldn't  stand  that;  he 
broke  right  down,  and  God  gave  him  back  to  me  that  night." 

If  you  have  ever  lived  in  England  }ou  know  what  a  great 
barrier  is  built  up  between  the  Church  of  lilngland  and  what 
they  call  the  Dissenting  churches.  1  was  asked  a  few  years 
ago  to  go  down  to  a  county  parish  to  preach  on  Saturday  and 
Sunday.  When  I  arrived  I  found  that  a  large  tent  had  been 
provided  to  hold  the  services  in,  and  that  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land people  and  the  Dissenters  were  working  together  har- 
moniousl}-.  I  was  entertained  l)y  a  wealthy  churchman  of 
great  prominence  in  the  conmiunity,  and  I  found  that  his 
house  was  filled  with  Dissenting  ministers  who  had  come  to 
the  meetings,  whom  he  was  entertaining.  It  was  so  unusual 
to  find  a  man  in  his  jjosition  fraternizing  with  every  conceiv- 
able kind  of  worker  in  the  whole  county  that  I  said  to  him, 
"  How  long  has  this  been  going  on?"  He  replied,  "There 
was  a  time  when  if  I  met  a  Dissenting  minister  I  wouldn't 
look  at  him  or  bow  to  him;  I  really  thought  that  every  Dis- 
senting minister  was  doing  all  he  could  to  tear  down  the 
Church  of  England.  I  went  over  to  Kassock  and  I  met  some 
men  there  who  told  me  about  being  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
God.  and  I  tried  to  get  into  this  higher  life.  When  I  was 
filled  with  the  S])irit,  the  first  thing  I  did  was  to  go  to  every 
Dissenting  minister  in  my  county  and  tal]<  and  ])ray  with  him; 
and  since  then  every  minister  who  has  come  into  this  county 
has  never  preached  but  he  has  had  my  prayers."  Here  was 
a  man  wdio  was  a  blessing  to  nearly  every  family  in  the  whole 
region.     He  got  the  blessing  and  ])assed  it  on  to  others. 

The  first  time  I  was  in  Dundee  I  went  into  a  great  stone 
church  and  the  congregation  was  so  slim  vou  could  have  fired 
a  cannon  ball  right  through  it  and  not  hit  anvbodx-;  but  the 
voung  luinister's  heart  was  full  of  the  fire  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  when  T  was  there  a  few  years  afterward  you  couldn't  get 


A    MINISTER    AWAKENED.  205 

into  the  aisles.     Hundreds  of  people  had  been  converted  just 
because  that  young  man  was  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God. 

I  remember  when  1  first  went  to  England  with  Mr.  Sankey, 
at  a  service  where  I  was  presenting  this  subject,  I  noticed  a 
Presbyterian  minister  in  the  audience  who  hid  his  face  in  his 
hands.  I  said  to  myself.  "  I  have  run  against  that  man's  the- 
ology." I  used  to  be  very  much  afraid  of  running  against 
the  theology  of  ministers!  When  the  meeting  was  over  he 
went  out  of  the  door  as  though  he  had  been  shot  out  of  a 
cannon,  and  I  said  to  Air.  Sankey,  "  I  am  afraid  that  minister 
is  ofTended  at  something  I  said."  At  the  next  meeting  I 
looked  for  him  but  he  wasn't  there;  and  at  the  next  and  the 
next,  and  so  on  for  a  whole  week,  but  I  didn  t  see  him.  It  was 
just  at  the  beginning  of  our  work  in  England,  when  we  were 
trying  to  get  a  foothold  there,  and  I  was  verv  anxious  not  to 
ofifend  any  of  the  ministers.  About  a  week  from  that  time  he 
came  into  the  noon  prayer-meeting,  and  rose  and  told  about 
being  at  the  meeting  a  week  before;  and  he  said  he  came  to  the 
conclusion  on  that  day  that  if  God  had  got  anything  more  for 
him  he  was  going  to  have  it;  and,  he  added,  "I  have  been 
closeted  with  God  for  the  past  week,  and  He  has  answered  my 
prayer."  He  moved  that  whole  assemblage;  everybody  knew 
that  he  had  received  a  great  blessing,  and  it  spread  through 
the  audience  like  wildfire.  He  said  that  before  he  got  this 
blessing  his  church  wasn't  one-third  full.  On  the  third  Sab- 
bath after  that  I  went  down  to  his  church  and  I  couldn't  get 
inside;  I  had  to  stand  outside  and  look  in  at  the  window. 
Some  tune  after,  he  said  to  me,  "  T  haven't  preached  one  ser- 
mon since  God  gave  me  that  anointing  that  there  have  not 
been  conversions." 

Some  Englishmen  were  travelin"-  in  Africa  with  the  idea  of 
colonizing.  They  came  to  a  beautiful  place  in  the  mountains 
and  asked  the  natives  if  they  had  an  abundance  of  water.  They 
said,  "  No.  there  were  a  few  months  last  summer  when  we 
didn't  have  any  rain.  The  clouds  came  over  us  but  thev  didn't 
break,  and  it  is  pretty  dry  up  here  now."     They  went  to  an- 


2o6  THK    OLD    GOSl'KL    WITH    NEW    POWER. 

Other  place  and  were  told  that  during  a  certain  season  there 
was  no  rain.  But  at  the  third  place  the  natives  said  they  had 
plenty  of  water ;  the  clouds  were  pierced  up  there  on  that  high 
ground,  and  they  got  under  the  clouds.  I  have  seen  churches 
that  were  living  under  pierced  clouds,  and  they  go  on  year 
after  year  with  an  abundance  of  living  water  :  and  I  have  seen 
churches  as  dry  as  the  mountains  of  Gilboa  —  not  a  drop  of 
dew  on  them. 

I  know  a  minister  who  sought  this  blessing,  and  in  ten 
months  he  received  three  hundred  and  eighty  into  his  church 
on  profession  of  faith.  The  church  had  never  been  so  full 
since  it  was  built.  Over  two  thousand  people  in  that  city 
flocked  to  hear  him  preach  just  because  he  was  filled  with  the 
Spirit  of  God.  It  is  not  a  new  Gospel  that  we  want,  it  is  the 
old  Gospel  with  new  power. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

SOWING  AND   REAPING  — WHAT   SH-ALL  THE 
HARVEST    BE? 

Family  Skeletons  —  Teaching  Servants  to  Lie  —  "  Isn't  It  Strange?  " — 
Teaching  Clerks  Dishonesty  —  Mr.  Moody's  Challenge  —  A  Man 
Who  Accepted  It,  and  the  Result  —  Reckoning  the  Cost  —  Fore- 
closing the  last  Mortgage  —  Sowing  Wild  Oats  —  Sentenced  to 
Prison  for  Life  —  The  Man  in  Tears  in  the  Balcony  —  The  Story 
of  a  Confidential  Clerk  —  "I  Am  Beyond  Help  "  —  Reaping  as  He 
had  Sown  —  "Hello,  Stranger,  What  Are  You  Sowing?"  — A 
Story  of  John  B.  Gough  —  Mr.  Moody's  Reminiscences  of  Him  — 
The  Man  Who  Sowed  Oats  and  Thistles  —  An  Incident  in 
Chicago  —  Deserting  Wife  and  Children  —  The  Fugitive  Forger  — 
The  Last  Night  at  Home  —  In  a  Convict's  Garb  —  A  Terrible 
Dilemma  —  A  Letter  of  Warning  —  Returning  to  the  Old  Home 
—  '■  No  Such  Person  Lives  Here  " — -The  End  of  a  Misspent  Life. 

I  BELIEVE  that  the  text  "  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap,"  applies  to  saint  and  sinner  alike;  to 
every  human  being  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  makes  no 
difference  what  nation  he  belongs  to,  whether  he  is  Jew  or 
Gentile,  Romanist  or  Protestant.  Here  is  a  law  that  has  been 
in  force  for  six  thousand  years,  and  neither  devil  nor  man  has 
been  able  to  break  it. 

You  might  as  well  try  to  blot  the  sun  out  of  the  heavens 
as  to  blot  out  this  truth.  You  can't  get  around  it  or  over  it. 
It  meets  every  man,  whether  it  be  the  minister  in  the  pulpit 
or  the  man  in  the  pew;  it  is  the  law  for  David,  or  for  Ahab; 
ruler  or  peasant,  agnostic,  infidel,  pantheist,  deist;  it  makes 
no  difiference.  You  can't  take  up  the  daily  papers  but  you 
read  that  men  reap  what  they  have  sown  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty 
years  before.  You  haven't  got  to  go  out  of  your  own  ex- 
perience for  proof  of  the  truth  of  this  text.  You  will  yourself 
say,  "  That  is  true  in  my  case.     I  have  had  to  reap." 

(207) 


2o8  UNBELIEF    DOES    NOT    CHANCE    KAc:TS. 

I  remember  giving  out  tliis  text  at  one  uf  our  meetings, 
and  a  man  said  he  duln't  l)elieve  it.  "  Well,"  1  said,  "  my 
friend,  that  does  not  change  tlie  fact."  There's  a  class  of 
people  who  labor  under  the  delusion  that  because  the\-  don't 
belie\e  a  thin.g.  the  thing  isn't  true.  Now  listen,  truth  is  truth 
whether  }  ou  believe  it  or  not.  A  lie  is  a  lie  whether  \ou  be- 
lieve it  or  not.  The  fact  was,  that  man  didn't  want  to  l)elieve 
it.  When  the  meeting  broke  up  an  officer  was  at  the  door 
who  had  a  warrant  to  arrest  that  ver_\-  man.  lie  was  taken 
into  coiu't,  tried  for  crime,  found  guilt v,  and  was  sent  to  ])rison 
for  twelve  months.  I  have  no  doubt  when  he  got  into  his 
cell  he  found  the  text  true. 

A'ou  can  deceive  your  wife;  you  can  deceive  }our  neigh- 
bors; yes,  you  can  even  deceive  yourself.  Ikit  you  can't  de- 
ceive (jod.  So,  if  we  are  deceived,  let  us  ])ra\-  (lod  to  open 
our  eyes.  You  may  trille  with  some  things,  but  don't  trifle 
with  eternal  things.  There  is  no  one  truth  in  the  Bible  that 
has  had  such  an  iniluence  over  ni}-  life  as  that  one.  I  have 
said  to  myself,  "  Plow  stupid  I  was  not  to  sec  that  truth  years 
ago."  Look  at  the  men  and  women  who  are  sowing  now, 
only  to  reap,  in  after  years,  in  tears  and  agony  and  imtold 
sorrow. 

I  am  not  in  the  habit  (jf  dividing  up  my  texts;  T  don't  lik-e 
to  say  "  firstly,"  "  secondly,"  and  "  finally,"  and  "  in  con- 
clusion," and  all  that.  I  get  lost  before  I  get  to  the  "  con- 
clusion." Hut  it  is  a  good  thing  to  do.  Spurgeon  told  me  he 
could  never  "  get  on  "  unless  he  had  i\\'c  points.  That  is  the 
prei)aration  he  made,  and  he  would  fill  them  up  in  the  pulpit. 
I  have  never  been  able  to  get  on  with  so  man\  divisions;  but 
I  am  going  to  divide  up  this  subject,  and  bring  everything 
under  four  heads. 

First:     A  man  ex  peels  io  reap. 

Second:     lie  expeeL<i  to  reap  the  .<;aiue  kind  of  seed  he  sows. 

Third :     He  expeets  io  reap  more  than  he  sows. 

Fourth:  He  must  reap  the  fruit,  no  matter  hozv  ignorant  he 
mav  be,  or  elaims  to  be,  of  the  nature  of  the  seed. 


WEBSTER'S    INSURANCE    CASE. 


209 


//  man  cxptxts  to  reap.  Do  you  think  farmers  would  plant 
their  grain  and  potatoes  if  they  knew  that  there  was  to  come 
a  famine?  Xo,  they  would  save  tlieir  seed  and  their  time,  and 
let  their  farms  rest.  Men  remain  a  long  time  in  colle.c^e,  and 
many  go  abroad  to  finish  their  studies,  and  then  start  in  some 
profession.  It  is  slow  work  getting  started,  but  they  look  for- 
ward to  a  time  when  they  will  reap  a  good  harvest.  Young 
men  spend  years  in  learning  a  trade,  but  they  look  for  their 
reward  by  and  by;  instead  of  the  wages  of  a  day  laborer  they 
expect  to  receive  the  wages  of  an  experienced  mechanic. 
J^very  man  looks  forward  to  the  reaping  time. 

An  insurance  case  was  brought  to  Daniel  Webster  when  he 
was  a  young  lawyer  in  Portsmouth.  Only  a  small  amount  was 
involved,  and  a  twent_\--dollar  fee  was  all  that  was  promised. 
He  saw  that  to  do  his  client  full  justice  a  journey  to  Boston 
would  be  necessary,  in  order  to  consult  the  law  library.  He 
would  be  out  of  pocket  by  the  expediticn,  and  for  the  time  he 
would  receive  no  adequate  compensation.  But  he  determined 
to  do  his  best,  cost  what  it  might.  He  went  to  Boston,  looked 
up  the  authorities,  and  won  the  case. 

Years  after,  Webster,  who  had  meanwhile  become  famous, 
was  passing  through  New  York.  An  important  insurance  case 
was  to  be  tried  that  day,  and  one  of  the  counsel  had  suddenly 
been  taken  ill.  Money  was  no  object,  and  Webster  was  begged 
to  name  his  terms  and  conduct  the  case. 

"  I  told  them,"  said  Mr.  Webster,  "  that  it  was  preposterous 
to  expect  me  to  prepare  a  legal  argument  at  a  few  hours'  no- 
tice. They  insisted,  however,  that  I  should  look  at  the  papers, 
and  this  I  finally  consented  to  do.  It  was  my  old  twenty-dollar 
case  over  again,  and  as  I  never  forgot  anything,  I  had  all  the 
authorities  at  my  fingers'  ends.  The  court  knew  that  I  had  no 
time  to  prepare  for  the  case,  and  was  astonished  at  the  range 
of  my  acquirements.  So  you  see,  I  w'as  handsomely  repaid 
both  in  fame  and  money  for  that  journey  to  Boston.  And  the 
moral  is  that  good  ivork  is  rczvardcd  in  the  end." 

A  man  expects  to  reap  the  same  kind  of  seed  he  sows.     If  I 


2IO  SOCIAL    LIES    AND    BUSINESS    LIES. 

should  tell  you  that  I  sowed  ten  acres  of  wheat  last  year  and 
that  watermelons  came  up,  or  that  I  sowed  cucumbers  and 
gathered  turnips,  you  wouldn't  believe  it.  It  is  a  fixed  law 
that  you  shall  reap  the  same  kind  of  seed  you  sow.  Plant 
wheat  and  you  reap  wheat;  plant  an  acorn  and  there  comes  up 
an  oak;  plant  a  little  elm  and  in  time  you  have  a  big  elm.  This 
law  is  just  as  true  in  God's  kingdom  as  in  man's  kingdom;  just 
as  true  in  the  spiritual  world  as  in  the  natural  world.  If  I  sow 
tares,  I  am  going  to  reap  tares.  If  I  sow  a  lie,  I  am  going  to 
reap  lies.  If  I  sow  adultery,  I  am  going  to  reap  adulterers. 
If  I  sow  whiskey,  I  am  going  to  reap  drunkards.  You  cannot 
blot  this  law  out.     No  other  truth  in  the  Bible  is  so  solemn. 

A  lady  once  said  to  me: 

"  Why  is  it  that  I  don't  get  better  service  from  my  servants? 
Isn't  it  strange?  " 

"  No,"  I  said,  "  I  don't  think  it  is  strange.  When  ladies 
will  teach  their  servants  to  go  to  the  door  and  tell  callers  that 
they  are  *  out,'  when  all  the  time  they  are  '  in.'  and  at  home, 
but  don't  want  to  be  seen,  they  won't  have  trustworthy  serv- 
ants.    If  they  lie  to  your  callers,  they  will  lie  to  you." 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Moody,  we  don't  mean  anything  when  we  say 
we  arc  '  out.'     It  is  only  a  society  lie." 

"  Yes,"  I  said,  "  but  madam,  a  society  lie  is  as  bad  a  lie  as 
any  other  lie.     There  is  no  difference." 

A  man  said  to  me  some  time  ago:  "Why  is  it  that  we 
cannot  get  honest  clerks  now?  "  I  replied  that  I  didn't  know. 
But  perhaps  I  can  imagine  a  reason.  When  merchants  teach 
clerks  to  say  that  goods  are  all  wool  when  they  are  half  cotton, 
and  to  adulterate  groceries  and  say  they  are  pure;  when  they 
grind  up  white  marble  and  put  it  into  pulverized  sugar  and  the 
clerk  knows  it,  you  will  not  have  honest  clerks.  As  long  as 
merchants  teach  their  clerks  to  lie  and  misrepresent,  to  put  a 
French  or  an  English  tag  on  domestic  goods  and  sell  them  for 
imported  goods,  just  so  long  they  will  have  dishonest  clerks. 
Young  men  who  cheat  in  their  lessons  while  going  through 
college  will  cheat  when  they  get  out.     It  is  not  fiction  but 


A    STATEMENT    NEVER    RETRACTED.  2II 

solemn  fact  that  a  man  must  reap  the  same  kind  of  seed  that 
he  sows. 

This  is  a  tremendous  argument  against  selling  liquor. 
Leaving  out  the  temperance  and  religious  aspects  of  the  ques- 
tion, no  man  on  earth  can  afford  to  sell  strong  drink.  If  I 
sell  liquor  to  your  son  and  make  a  drunkard  of  him,  some  man 
will  sell  liquor  to  my  son  and  make  a  drunkard  of  him.  Every 
man  who  sells  liquor  has  a  drunken  son,  or  a  drunken  brother, 
or  some  drunken  relative.  Where  are  the  sons  of  liquor 
dealers?  To  whom  are  their  daughters  married?  Look 
around  and  see  if  you  can  find  a  man  who  has  been  in  that 
business  twenty  years  who  has  not  a  skeleton  in  his  family. 

You  will  find  some  men  who  have  made  themselves  mil- 
lionaires by  the  sale  of  liquors.  Where  are  their  sons?  In 
drunkards'  graves.  You  won't  have  to  travel  far  to  prove 
what  I  say.  I  once  threw  down  that  challenge,  and  a  man 
came  to  the  hotel  where  I  was  staying,  and  said : 

"  I  understand  you  threw  down  a  challenge.  Take  it 
back;  for  it  is  not  true." 

"  Give  me  the  facts,"  I  said.  "  I  will  make  a  retraction 
if  it  is  not  true." 

"  My  father  was  a  rumseller,  and  I  am  a  rumseller,  and  the 
curse  never  came  into  my  father's  family  nor  mine." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  1  have  traveled  all  over  Christendom,  and 
this  is  the  first  time  I  have  heard  my  statement  denied." 

"  You  call  it  an  accursed  business,  but  the  '  curse  '  has 
never  struck  either  family,"  he  said. 

Two  prominent  citizens  were  in  the  room  at  the  time,  and 
I  said  to  them: 

"  I  will  investigate.  I  am  going  to  speak  to-night,  and  I 
will  take  back  my  statement  if  it  is  not  true." 

When  he  went  out,  one  of  those  men  said: 

''  That  man's  brother  committed  suicide  only  six  weeks  ago 
in  this  city,  and  left  a  widow  and  seven  children,  and  Iv^  lias 
that  widow  and  children  to  care  for.  And  he  himself  was 
drunk  this  week." 


212  NO    EVIL-DOER    ESCAPES. 

And  yet  he  said  "  The  curse  never  came  into  my  family." 
Some  men  don't  think  the  curse  comes  to  them  unless  it  comes 
down  on  their  own  heads.  Their  daughters  may  marry 
drunkards,  and  may  have  "  a  little  hell  "  all  their  own,  l)ut  it 
does  not  seem  to  "  come  to  them  "  at  all.  Xo  man  can  afford 
to  sell  whiskey.  If  you  are  in  the  business,  take  my  advice, 
get  an  axe  and  knock  the  barrels  in  the  head. 

Am  I  speaking"  to  a  man  or  woman  who  is  renting  prop- 
erty for  whiskey  selling?  The  curse  will  come  to  your  family. 
I  was  in  a  town  sometime  ago  where  a  wealthy  man  had  built 
a  handsome  house  in  a  very  respectable  part  of  the  city,  and 
when  the  house  was  finished  some  one  offered  him  a  very  large 
rent  for  it,  to  be  used  for  a  ])rothel.  He  had  four  promising 
sons,  and  every  one  of  them  were  ruined  in  that  house.  How 
much  did  he  make?  Sit  down  and  reckon  it  up.  Sow 
l:)rothels  and  you  will  reap  adultery  and  it  will  come  into  your 
family.  You  can't  put  temptation  in  tlie  wa\-  of  young  men. 
but  it  will  come  back  to  }Ou. 

If  you  will  read  the  liible  \-ou  will  fnid  that  ft)r  si.x  thou- 
sand years  men  have  reaped  what  they  sowed.  God  made 
Adam  reap  before  he  left  Eden.  There  was  no  detective,  no 
police,  no  sheriff,  no  constable  there.  1  would  like  to  know 
what  these  agnostics  and  infidels  and  atheists  make  out  of 
that,  —  that  God  brouglit  men  to  judgment?  Sin  found 
Adam  out,  didn't  it?  Alen  may  escape  the  law  of  the  State; 
laws  may  be  made  at  the  ca])itol,  and  man  may  evade  those 
laws;  but  God  has  laws  that  no  man  can  escape.  ]'flii  tc;//  rcaf^ 
as  you  have  sozvii. 

A  man  reaps  uiorc  than  he  sows.  If  I  sow  a  I)us1k'1  1  ex])ect 
to  reap  ten  or  twenty  bushels.  I  can  sow  in  one  da\'  wliat  w  ill 
take  ten  men  to  reap.  And  it  takes  a  longer  time  to  reap  than 
to  sow.  When  T  hear  a  man  talking  in  a  flip])ant  way  about 
sowing  his  wild  oats,  T  don't  laugh.  T  feel  more  like  crying. 
because  I  know  he  is  going  to  make  his  gray-haired  mother 
reap  in  tears;  he  is  going  to  make  his  wife  reap  in  shame;  he  is 
going  to  make  his  old  father  and  his  nmocent  childreii  reaj) 


A    MILLIONAIRE    CONVICT. 


213 


with  him.  Only  ten,  or  fifteen,  or  twenty  years  will  pass  be- 
fore he  will  have  to  reap  his  wild  oats;  no  man  has  ever  sowed 
them  without  having-  to  reap  them.  Sow  the  wind  and  you 
will  reap  a  whirlwind. 

There  was  a  man  in  the  Ohio  ]:)cnitcntiar\-  who  died  of 
cancer  a  little  while  ago.  lie  was  there  between  thirty  and 
forty  years.  A  railroad  line  to  New  York  was  laid  out  tc:)  run 
through  his  town.  They  came  to  him  and  wanted  to  buy  his 
farm  and  lay  the  lino  through  it.  He  said,  "  No.  I  expect 
the  town  will  grow,  and  I  think  the  railroad  will  injure  my 
property."  He  refused  to  sell.  The  Conunissioners  could  do 
nothing  with  him,  and  the  court  authorized  the  railroad  com- 
pany to  lay  the  route  right  through  his  farm.  One  dark  night 
after  the  railroad  w'as  completed  some  one  put  an  obstruction 
on  the  track,  and  there  was  a  dreadful  railroad  accident.  Lives 
were  lost.  Suspicion  fell  upon  him.  He  was  tried,  found 
guilty,  and  sent  to  prison  for  life.  That  little  town  has  grown 
to  be  a  cit\'  of  over  thirty  thousand  inhabitants.  The  develop- 
ment of  that  farm  made  him  a  millionaire;  but  he  himself  was 
branded  and  died  a  criminal.  In  that  little,  narrow  cell  he 
spent  his  days,  and  a  cancer  relieved  him  from  this  life.  It 
took  him  thousands  of  hours  to  reap  what  it  took  him  but  a 
few  moments  to  sow,  to  say  nothing  of  the  eternity  to  which  he 
has  gone.  Tell  me  that  a  man  doesn't  reap  more  than  he  sows. 
It  is  going  on  all  the  while.  Men  seem  to  think  they  can 
escape  God's  law;  they  may  escape  man's  law,  but  not  God's. 

"  Thougli  tlio  mills  of  God  grind  slowly. 
Yet  they  grind  exceeding  small. 
Though  with  patience  He  stands  waiting, 
\\'ith  exactness  grinds  He  all." 

I  was  once  speaking  on  this  subject,  and  a  man  in  the  bal- 
cony right  in  front  of  me  dropped  as  if  he  had  been  shot,  and 
sobbed  aloud.     A  gentleman  said  to  him: 

"  ]\Iy  friend,  you  seem  to  be  in  great  trouble.  Can  I  help 
you?  " 

"  No,  sir,  I  am  beyond  that.      Xo  one  can  help  me." 
14 


214 


A    RUINED    LIFE. 


"  What  is  your  trouble?  " 

rointing  down  to  wlicrc  I  was,  he  said: 

"  What  that  man  said  to-nij^lit  is  true.  It  takes  a  longer 
time  to  reap  than  to  sow.  I'^our  years  ago  I  tilled  a  responsi- 
ble position  in  this  city.  I  was  a  confidential  clerk.  One 
night,  in  a  saloon,  while  under  the  influence  of  liquor.  I  com- 
mitted a  crime.  I  was  sent  to  prison,  a  culprit,  for  four  years. 
I  am  just  out.  I  called  on  my  old  firm  to-da}'.  and  they  or- 
dered me  out  of  their  place  of  business;  they  said  I  had  dis- 
graced them,  and  I  was  never  to  come  back  to  tliem.  1  have 
been  up  and  down  the  streets  trying  to  find  work,  and  when  I 
told  people  where  I  had  been  for  the  past  four  years  they 
didn't  want  me.  I  met  men  who  hold  inferior  positions  to  the 
one  I  once  filled,  but  not  one  of  them  would  return  my  bow." 
And  he  wrung  his  hands. 

It  is  all  true;  it  takes  a  longer  time  to  reap  than  it  does  to 
sow.  I  have  been  a  great  many  years  building  up  my  char- 
acter, but  I  could  blast  it  inside  of  an  hour.  It  takes  a  long 
time  to  build  a  monument,  but  not  long  to  destroy  it.  It 
don't  take  a  long  time  to  blast  one's  character;  but  it  takes  a 
long  time  to  recover  it,  if  one  loses  it. 

I  used  to  sw'ear  before  I  w'as  converted;  it  didn't  seem  to 
trouble  me.  J  hit  after  I  was  converted  if  I  got  an  oath  half- 
way out  I  bit  it  in  two  with  my  teeth.  It  caused  me  more 
agony  than  all  the  oaths  I  had  ever  taken.  It  is  an  awful  thing 
for  a  man  to  know  these  truths  and  then  act  against  them. 
This  truth  applies  to  the  preacher  and  saint  as  well  as  to  the 
sinner.  We  have  all  got  to  reap,  every  one  of  us,  and  MORE 
THAX  WE  SOW. 

//  ;/;(//;  ;////,s7  naf^  the  fruit,  no  matter  how  ii^iiorant  he  may 
be,  or  clawis  to  be,  of  the  nature  of  the  seed.  Ignorance  of  the 
kind  of  seed  makes  no  difference.  If  I  think  I  am  sowing 
good  seed,  and  it  is  bad,  I  shall  have  a  bad  harvest.  There- 
fore it  becomes  me  as  a  rational  creature  and  a  thinking  man 
to  look  well  to  the  kind  of  seed  I  am  sowing. 

Suppose  I  meet  a  man  who  is  sow'ing  seed,  and  I  say: 


SOWING    FOR    TIME    AND    ETERNITY. 


215 


"  Hello,  stranger,  what  are  you  sowing?  " 

"  I  don't  know." 

"  Don't  know  whether  it  is  good  or  bad?" 

"  Xo,  I  can't  tell;  but  it  is  seed,  that  is  all  I  want  to  know, 
and  I  am  sowing  it." 

You  would  say  that  he  was  a  first-class  lunatic,  wouldn't 
vou?  But  he  wouldn't  be  half  so  crazy  as  the  man  who  goes 
on  sowing  for  time  and  eternity  and  never  asks  himself  what 
kind  of  seed  he  is  sowing  or  what  the  harvest  will  be.  Young 
man,  are  you  letting  some  secret  sin  get  the  mastery  over  you, 
binding  you  hand  and  foot?     It  is  growing.     Every  sin  grows. 

Mothers,  fathers,  your  children  are  coming  on  after  you ; 
look  well  to  the  seed  you  are  sowing.  If  a  man  could  do  all  his 
own  reaping  at  last,  it  wouldn't  be  so  bad.  But  when  you  sin 
remember  that  you  and  your  children  will  reap  shame  and  dis- 
grace, and  your  old,  white-haired  parents  will  reap  in  bitter- 
ness and  tears.  I  have  seen  white-haired  men  and  women  in 
agony  worse  than  death.  I  don't  want  to  see  it  again  if  I  can 
help  myself.  And  so  I  want  to  say  it  becomes  us  to  look  w'ell 
to  the  kind  of  seed  we  are  sowing.  You  commence  very  early 
with  children  to  sow  seed,  and  if  you  teach  them  to  disobey 
God  you  may  be  sure  they  will  disobey  you.  If  a  man  will 
teach  his  children  to  curse  God  they  will  curse  him.  Isn't 
that  so? 

I  want  to  ask  young  people  a  question.  What  kind  of  seed 
are  you  sowing,  good  seed  or  bad  seed?  There  will  be  a  har- 
vest, and  we  are  bound  to  reap,  whether  we  w^ant  to  or  not. 
Tell  me,  how  do  you  spend  your  spare  time?  Telling  vile 
stories,  polluting  the  minds  of  others  while  your  own  mind  is 
also  polluted?  Do  you  read  literature  that  makes  your 
thoughts  impure?  How  do  you  spend  the  Sabbath?  Boat- 
ing, fishing,  hunting,  or  on  excursions?  Do  any  of  you  think 
ministers  are  old  fogies,  or  that  the  Bible  belongs  to  the  dark- 
ages? 

How  do  you  treat  your  parents?  If  you  w-ill  tell  me  I  w^ill 
tell  you  just  about  what  kind  of  a  harvest  you  are  going  to 


2i6  DUTIES    TO    TARKNTS. 

have.  Now,  I  have  traveled  tliroiigh  this  world  a  great  deal, 
and  I  have  not  traveled  with  ni}-  eyes  shut.  And  I  want  to 
testify  that  I  never  in  ni\-  life  have  seen  a  young  man  or  young 
woman  treat  their  parents  with  contempt  who  have  ever  pros- 
pered. Tell  me  how  }-ou  treat  your  parents  and  I  will  tell  you 
how  vour  children  will  treat  \ou.  A  man  was  making  prep- 
arations to  send  his  old  father  to  the  poorhouse,  when  his 
little  child  came  up  and  said,  "  Papa,  when  you  are  old,  shall 
I  have  to  take  you  to  the  poorhouse?  "  If  your  father  is  living, 
treat  him  kindly,  ^'ou  will  not  always  have  him  with  you.  If 
your  mother  still  lingers,  treat  her  kindly.  T  can't  tell  you  the 
contempt  I  have  for  the  boy  who  will  associate  with  fast  young 
men  of  the  town  and  talk  against  his  father  and  mother,  and 
sav  the\-  cranuned  religion  down  his  throat,  and  that  now  he 
is  a  '■  free  man."  I  think  I  would  rather  have  my  tongue 
cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth  than  to  speak  in  that  way  of 
mv  mother.  If  there  is  an}'  one  thing  that  (iod  has  given  me 
in  this  world  that  I  am  most  thankful  for,  it  is  for  my  godly, 
pra}ing  mother.  I  know  that  if  any  calamity  had  come  to 
me.  if  I  should  be  stricken  down  with  dangerous  disease,  and 
she  were  living  to-day,  and  the  news  should  reach  her.  she 
would  take  the  first  train  to  come  to  me,  and.  if  necessary, 
would  take  the  disease  in  her  own  body  and  die  for  me. 

Tell  me,  young  man,  what  kind  of  seed  are  you  sowing? 
.\re  you  polite  to  other  people  and  ])eevish  and  cross  to  your 
father  and  mother?  Cod  forgive  you  if  you  are.  A  son  stays 
out  until  one,  two,  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  gambling 
dens,  and  when  his  mother  remonstrates  he  curses  her,  and  in 
doing  so  he  kills  her  by  inches.  Coiue,  my  friend,  what  kind 
of  harvest  do  you  expect?  What  kind  of  seed  are  you  sowing? 
r>ear  in  mind  the  reaping  time  is  coming.  I  will  venture  to 
say  there  is  many  a  man  who  would  give  all  he  has  in  the 
world  if  he  could  call  his  mother  back  and  get  her  forgiveness. 
I  was  a  member  of  the  Mount  Vernon  Church  in  Boston 
wMth  John  B.  Gough.  I  used  to  go  to  his  house,  and  when 
he  came  to  Chicago  I  used  to  entertain  him.      In  later  years  he 


JOIIX    li.    (iOUGH'S    lUTTKRKST    MK.MORV.  21/ 

came  often  to  my  home,  and  but  a  little  time  before  he  died  I 
heard  him  say,  "  If  I  could  tear  one  thing-  from  my  memory 
I  would  willingly  give  my  right  arm."  Antl  1  have  always  sup- 
posed it  was  the  way  he  treated  his  mother.  She  could  not 
stand  it  to  see  her  boy  going  to  a  drunkard's  grave,  and  her 
heart  broke,  and  John  T>.  Ciough  came  to  himself;  but  his 
mother  was  gone.  If  you  are  not  right  with  your  father  and 
mother,  get  right  with  them  at  once.  They  will  be  gone  by 
and  by. 

A  man  wrote  to  me  that  this  idea  that  one  must  reap  just 
as  he  sows  will  do  for  the  unconverted,  but  not  f(jr  a  man  who 
has  turned  from  his  sins.  But  if  I  get  drunk  and  break  my 
right  arm  and  that  arm  is  amputated,  though  I  may  afterward 
become  not  only  a  temperate  but  a  godly  man,  I  must  still  go 
through  life  without  that  right  arm.  Suppose  I  send  a  man 
to  sow  ten  acres  of  oats,  and  when  they  come  up  I  find  half 
cf  them  are  thistles.  I  say.  "  It  is  the  work  of  an  enemy. 
Some  one  has  sowed  those  thistles."  I  call  the  man  who 
sowed  the  seed  and  say  to  him: 

"  John,  do  you  know  anything  about  those  thistles?  " 

"  Do  you  remember,  IMr.  Moody,"  he  replies,  "  that  two  or 
three  years  ago  you  were  talking  with  me  and  you  told  me  if 
I  had  done  wrong  and  I  came  to  you  and  confessed  it  you 
would  forgive  me?  W'^ell,  some  time  after  that  I  got  angry 
with  you  and  I  mixed  thistle  seed  with  the  oats.  There  has 
not  been  a  day  since  that  I  was  not  sorry;  and  though  I  could 
not  face  you,  I  now  hold  you  to  your  promise  of  forgiveness." 

"  Well,  John,  I  will  forgive  you,  but  when  you  reap  the 
oats  you  must  reap  the  thistles  along  with  them." 

I  know  what  it  is  to  reap  thistles  with  my  oats.  I  don't 
believe  there  is  a  minister  or  elder  or  deacon  in  the  church 
who  does  not  understand  this.  There  are  some  things  for 
which  I  can  never  forgive  myself.  There  is  not  a  cloud  be- 
tween my  soul  and  God  this  day.  I  have  a  clean  testimony  to 
this,  but  there  are  many  things  I  wish  I  had  not  done. 

I  know  a  man  who  deserted  his  wife  and  children,  and  after 


2i8  THE    REMORSEFUL    FU(;IT1VK. 

being  gone  for  years  he  returned  home,  like  the  prodigal, 
and  sought  out  his  wife.  She  supposed  he  was  dead,  and  she 
had  married  again;  and  the  poor  man  has  never  seen  his  wife 
and  children  alone.  He  has  stood  on  the  street  watching  his 
children,  but  he  never  spoke  to  them.  I  believe  God  will  for- 
give that  man,  but  he  will  never  forgive  himself.  He  must 
reap  the  consequences  of  his  sowing. 

Some  years  ago  in  Chicago  I  preached  from  the  text, 
"  Arise,  go  up  to  Bethel,  and  dwell  there."  A  man  came  to 
me  and  said: 

"  Can  I  see  you  alone?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  said. 

He  shut  the  door  and  turned  the  key.  The  perspiration 
stood  in  great  beads  on  his  forehead.  He  put  his  head  on  my 
shoulder  and  trembled  and  sobbed.  I  let  him  have  it  out. 
After  he  got  control  of  himself  I  said: 

"  Tell  me  your  trouble." 

"  I  am  a  fugitive  from  justice.  The  Governor  of  my  State, 
Missouri,  has  offered  a  reward  for  my  apprehension.  I  have 
been  hiding  here  in  Chicago  for  months." 

He  then  told  me  the  story.  He  had  forged  thousands  of 
dollars'  worth  of  county  bonds  and  sold  them.  He  did  not 
intend  to  defraud;  he  expected  to  succeed  in  speculation,  call 
the  bonds  in,  and  never  be  found  out.  But  he  got  beyond  his 
depth,  and  he  had  to  flee  from  the  city.  He  had  disfigured  and 
disguised  himself  all  he  could.     He  said: 

"  I  am  away  from  my  business,  my  friends  and  associates. 
I  dare  not  receive  a  letter  or  write  one.  I  have  nothing  to  do. 
I  am  afraid  to  l)c  out  in  the  daytime.  Tf  I  walk  out  I  can  hear 
the  footsteps  of  an  officer  on  my  track.  They  tell  me  there's 
no  hell,  but  it  seems  to  me  I  have  been  in  hell  for  months." 

"  Why  don't  you  give  yourself  up?  Why  not  go  back  and 
face  the  law?  " 

"  Oh,"  he  said.  "  T  can't  do  that." 

"  Well,"  I  rei)licd,  "  I  would  rather  be  in  prison  with  Christ 
than  outside  without  Him.     God  cannot  hclj)  you  until  you 


RETURNING  TO  BEAR  THE  PENALTY.        2IQ 

do  the  right  thing."  He  looked  me  straight  in  the  face  and 
said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  would  rather  go  to  prison  than  to  suffer 
what  I  have  suffered  for  the  last  few  months.  iNIy  conscience 
smites  me  day  and  night.  I  have  been  in  perfect  torment  all 
the  time.  All  the  while  it  seemed  as  if  some  one  would  touch 
my  shoulder  and  arrest  me  for  the  reward  offered.  But  I  have 
a  wife  and  three  children,  and  how  can  I  bring  this  public  dis- 
grace upon  them?  My  wife  is  a  refined  woman,  looked  up  to 
and  respected.  I  have  three  beautiful  children.  How  can  I 
put  this  stigma  upon  them  for  life?" 

The  case  looked  different  to  me  then.  I  have  a  rule  that 
I  have  carried  through  life.  It  is  this:  If  a  man  comes  to 
me  for  counsel  I  try  to  put  myself  in  his  place.  When  he 
spoke  of  his  wife  and  children  I  was  dumb.  That  is  what 
makes  me  hate  sin.  You  cannot  alone  reap  its  results;  others 
reap  and  suffer  with  you.     I  said: 

"  My  friend,  I  don't  know  what  to  say.  It  is  always  safe 
to  pray,  pray  about  everything." 

I  got  down  and  prayed,  and  I  wept,  —  I  couldn't  help  it. 
I  said: 

"  To-morrow  I  will  meet  you  at  twelve  o'clock." 

He  was  there  on  time.     He  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  it's  all  settled.  Don't  trouble  yourself  about 
me.  I  am  going  back  this  afternoon  to  give  myself  up.  If  I 
ever  meet  the  God  of  battles  I  must  go  through  prison.  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  do  right.  I  ask  you  to  do  one  thing 
—  pray  God  to  help  me;  pray  for  my  wife  and  children.  I 
don't  know  what  will  become  of  them;  pray  God  to  help  me 
and  them." 

I  did  pray,  and  I  wept  with  that  man.     He  said: 

"  Don't  speak  of  it  mitil  I  am  in  the  hands  of  the  law. 
Little  did  I  think  it  would  ever  come  to  this." 

Well,  he  took  the  train  and  started  for  Missouri.  He 
arrived  in  his  town  about  midnight,  stole  off  to  his  home,  and 
staved  there  a  week.     His  children  were  voung.  and  he  was 


220  AFRAID    TO    MKKT    HIS    CMILDRKN. 

afraid  to  liavc  ihcni  know  lie  was  homo  lost  it  should  get  out 
and  he  would  be  arrested.  lie  wrote  nic  a  letter  that  week. 
It  brought  tears  to  my  eyes.  He  said  he  heard  his  little  child 
say : 

"  Mamma,  doesn't  papa  love  us  any  more?  " 

"  Why,  yes,  what  makes  you  ask  such  a  question?" 

"  Why,  he  never  left  us  before,  and  he  has  been  gone  a 
long  time,  and  he  don't  write  to  us,  and  he  don't  send  us  any- 
thing, and  I'm  afraid  he  has  forgotten  us." 

And  there  the  father  was  in  the  house  all  the  time.  He 
would  go  up  and  look  at  the  children,  in  their  innocent  sleep, 
but  he  was  afraid  to  kiss  them,  lest  it  should  wake  them  up. 
Think  of  it!  And  think  of  the  stigma,  the  brand  he  was  to 
put  upon  them.     Talk  to  me  about  sin  being  pleasant! 

Well,  he  had  been  at  home  a  week.  He  felt  as  though  he 
must  give  himself  up.  The  last  night  came.  He  left  his 
house  about  midnight,  lie  wrote  me  how  he  tgok  his  wife 
to  his  bosom  and  kissed  her  again  and  again,  not  knowing 
whether  he  should  ever  see  her  again.  He  was  afraid  to  kiss 
the  children,  but  he  took  a  long  look  at  those  dear  little  ones. 
Then  he  left  his  home  and  went  across  the  country  and  arrived 
at  the  sheriff's  house  the  next  morning  at  daylight.  There 
wasn't  much  ()f  a  trial.     He  went  into  court  and  ])lead  guilty. 

Do  you  know,  T  think  we  ought  to  have  a  change  in  our 
laws,  and  when  a  man  says  he  is  guilt\'.  then  make  it  so  much 
easier  for  him.  Don't  teach  him  to  lie  out  of  it.  I  believe 
hundreds  of  men  in  difficulty  would  come  out  at  once  and  con- 
fess if  we  had  that  state  of  things.  1  am  not  much  of  a  lawyer, 
but  I  tell  you  T  believe  in  mercy.  1  want  it  for  myself.  And 
T  believe  that  when  a  man  does  confess  his  wrong  there  is  a 
kind  of  feeling  that  ])rom])ts  us  to  forgive  him  and  he!])  him 
and  stand  by  him.  Not  that  he  ought  not  to  go  to  prison  for 
a  length  of  time.  I  believe  that  he  ought  to,  but  make  it  as 
easy  as  possible  when  a  man  confesses  his  guilt  and  starts  to 
do  right. 

The  court  sentenced  this  man  to  the  ])enitentiary  for  nine- 


A    THIEF  AND    PKRJLTRER.  221 

teen  years.  That's  the  shortest  time  they  could  give  him  on 
the  eight  indictments.  I  went  down  to  sec  him,  and,  ahhough 
he  had  on  the  prison  garb,  I  beheve  he  was  a  child  of  God  as 
much  as  I  was.  God  had  spoken  peace  to  his  soul.  lie  was 
not  half  as  agitated  as  he  was  when  he  came  to  me  in  Chicago. 
The  cloud  had  lifted;  the  burden  was  gone.  Thank  God,  we 
got  him  out  at  last  and  he  was  restored  to  his  family.  He  has 
gone  up  on  high.  I  expect  to  meet  him  in  the  kingdom  of 
God.  To  his  dying  day  he  could  never  forgive  himself,  but 
God  forgave  him. 

A  fine  looking  young  man  once  came  into  the  inquiry-room. 
He  had  been  brought  up  in  a  happy  home  with  a  good  father 
and  mother.  He  had  gone  astray.  He  said  he  wished  to  be- 
come a  Christian,  but  he  could  not,  because  he  knew  what  it 
would  make  him  do.  He  had  robbed  an  express  company, 
and  that  sin  stood  between  him  and  God.'  He  had  been  tried 
and  the  verdict  was  in  his  favor,  but  he  knew  he  was  guilty. 
He  had  gone  into  the  witness-box  and  committed  perjury. 
He  went  out  of  the  inquiry-room  and  left  the  building.  He 
came  again,  however,  and  I  never  felt  so  nnich  pity  for  a  man 
in  my  life.  He  wanted  to  l^ecome  a  Christian,  but  the  thought 
of  having  to  go  back  and  tell  his  father  that  he  was  guilty,  after 
his  father  had  paid  $2,000  to  conduct  his  trial,  deterred  him. 
After  a  great  struggle  he  got  down  on  his  knees  and  cried  out, 
"O  God,  help  me!  forgive  me  my  sins;  "  and  at  last  he  got 
up  and  said,  "  Well,  sir,  I  will  go  back."  A  friend  went  down 
to  the  railway  station  and  saw  him  ofif,  and  shortly  after  I  got 
this  telegram  from  him  : 

"  Mr.  Moody  —  God  has  told  me  what  to  do.  The  future 
is  as  clear  as  crystal.     I  am  happier  than  ever  before." 

He  reached  his  native  village,  and  I  soon  received  a  letter 
from  him  that  filled  my  soul  with  sympathy.  Let  me  say  here, 
if  anyone  has  taken  money  from  his  employer,  go  and  tell  him 
of  it  at  once.  It  is  a  good  deal  better  for  you  to  confess  it  than 
to  have  it  on  your  mind,  or  try  to  cover  it  up.  "  He  that 
covereth  his  sins  shall  not  prosper."     If  you  have  taken  any 


222  A    TOUCHING    LETTER. 

money  that  does  not  belong  to  yoii,  make  restitution  by  con- 
fession at  least.  If  any  one  is  being  tempted  to  commit  a 
forgery  or  any  crime,  let  this  young  man's  letter  be  a  warning 
to  them: 

"  My  Beloved  Friend  and  Brother:  I  am  firm  in  the  cause.  I 
have  started,  and  feel  that  God  is  with  me  in  it.  And,  oh,  dear  brother, 
never  cease  praying  for  my  dear  father  and  mother,  and  I  wish  you 
would  some  day  write  them  and  tell  them  that  God  will  make  this  all 
for  the  best.  If  I  live  for  ages  I  will  never  cease  praying  for  them,  and 
I  never  can  forgive  myself  for  my  ungratefulness  to  my  dear  broken- 
hearted sisters  and  brothers  and  dear  good  parents.  Oh,  the  link  that 
held  the  once  happy  home  is  severed.  O  God  !  may  it  not  be  forever. 
Would  that  I  had  been  a  Christian  for  life;  that  I  had  taken  my  mother's 
hand  when  a  child  and  walked  from  there,  hand  in  hand,  straight  to 
heaven;  and  then  the  stains  would  not  have  been.  But  we  know,  O 
God,  that  they  can't  follow  me  into  heaven,  for  then  I  will  be  washed 
of  all  my  sins,  and  the  things  that  are  of  this  earth  will  stay  here. 

"  Oh,  my  dear  Christian  brothers,  my  heart  almost  failed  me  when 
I  was  approaching  my  home,  and  thought  that  I  was  the  one  out  of 
eight  brothers  and  sisters  to  break  the  chain  of  happiness  that  sur- 
rounded that  once  happy  and  beautiful  home.  The  beautiful  sunshine 
that  once  lit  that  dearest  of  homes  is  now  overshadowed  with  darkness. 
Oh,  I  fear  it  will  kill  my  dear  parents;  it  is  more  than  they  can  bear. 
When  I  reached  home,  and  they  all  greeted  me  with  a  kiss,  and  I  told 
them  I  had  started  for  heaven,  and  God  sent  me  home  to  tell  them, 
my  mother  shed  tears  of  happiness.  But  when  I  was  forced  to  bring 
the  death-stroke  upon  her  the  tears  ceased  to  flow,  and  God  only  can 
describe  the  scene  that  took  place.  I  called  them  all  around  me,  and  I 
thought  I  could  not  pray  if  I  were  to  attempt  it.  But  when  I  knelt 
with  them  in  prayer  God  just  told  me  what  to  say,  and  I  found  it  the 
will  of  God;  and  after  I  had  prayed  I  kissed  them  all,  and  asked  tlioir 
pardon  for  my  ungratefulness,  which  I  received  from  them  all.  Then  I 
made  my  preparation  to  leave  home,  for  how  long  God  only  knows, 
but  I  got  grace  to  leave  in  a  cheerful  way,  and  it  appeared  for  a  short 
time;  and  if  God  lets  me  live  to  return  home  I  will  join  my  mother's 
side,  take  her  to  church,  and  bring  my  brothers  and  sisters  and  father 
to  God.  We  will  all  go  to  heaven  together.  My  beloved  brother,  I 
must  see  you  some  day,  and  just  tell  you  what  God  has  done  for  me, 
and  I  know  he  will  never  forsake  me,  when  I  am  shut  up  in  those  prison 
walls  receiving  the  punishment  I  justly  deserve  for  my  crime.  When 
T  can't  comnnmciate  with  any  one  else  I  know  I  will  not  be  sliut  olT 
from  Gf)d.     Oh.  glory! 

■■  I  came  to  Cleveland  last  night,  and  was  going  to  get  that  money 
and  return  it  to  the  General  Superintendent,  but  my  attorney  had  made 
that  arrangement  already.      1  find  there  is  an  indictment  at  A 


tllK    CONVICT'S    RETURN.  2^3 

against  me  now  for  perjury,  and  I  am  going  to  take  the  morning  train 
and  go  there.  Court  is  in  progress  there  now,  and  I  am  going  to  plead 
guilty.  I  will  write  you  again  soon,  and  give  you  all  the  particulars 
and  the  length  of  my  sentence." 

I  want  to  iirg-e  this  Jetter  upon  your  consideration  as  a 
warninf^.  Think  of  the  punishment  that  young  man  brought 
upon  himself;  think  of  the  agony  of  that  father  and  mother 
when  lie  broke  the  news  to  them  —  when  he  told  them  of  his 
guilt.  He  had  sowed  seeds  of  evil,  and  they  with  him  reaped 
the  harvest  of  sorrow. 

A  prominent  citizen  in  the  north  of  England  told  me  a  sad 
case  that  happened  in  Newcastle-on-Tyne.  It  was  about  a 
young  boy,  an  only  child.  The  father  and  mother  thought 
everything  of  him,  and  did  all  they  could  for  him.  But  he 
fell  into  bad  ways,  associated  with  evil  cornpanions,  and  finally 
with  thieves.  He  didn't  let  his  parents  know  about  it.  One 
night  his  companions  prevailed  upon  him  to  break  into  a 
public  house.  They  stood  outside  while  he  entered  the  house 
and  broke  into  the  till.  He  was  caught,  and  in  one  short  week 
he  was  tried,  convicted,  and  sent  for  ten  years  to  Van  Dieman's 
Land. 

After  his  term  of  servitude  expired  he  returned  to  his  native 
land,  and  to  the  town  where  his  mother  and  father  used  to  live, 
and  soon  stood  at  the  door  of  his  old  home.  He  had  been 
gone  ten  years,  and  what  a  change  he  found  there!  He 
knocked,  but  a  stranger  came  to  the  door  and  stared  him  in 
the  face.  "  No,  there's  no  such  person  lives  here,  and  where 
yottr  parents  are  I  don't  know,"  was  the  only  greeting  he  re- 
ceived. Then  he  went  down  the  street,  asking  even  the  chil- 
dren that  he  met  about  his  family,  and  where  they  were  living. 
But  everybody  looked  blank.  There,  where  he  was  born  and 
brought  up,  he  was  an  alien,  and  unknown  even  in  his  old 
haunts. 

At  last  he  found  a  couple  of  townsmen  who  remembered  his 
father  and  mother,  and  they  told  him  the  old  house  had  been 
deserted  long  before;  that  he  had  been  gone  but  a  few  months 


224  --^    11AR\EST    OF    (iRlHF    AM)    TKARS. 

when  his  father  ched  l)roken-hearted;  and  that  his  mother  had 
lost  her  mind.  He  went  to  the  madhouse  where  his  mother 
was,  and  went  up  to  her  and  said:  "  Mother,  mother,  don't 
vou  know  me?  I  am  your  son!  ""  Ikit  she  raved  and  struck 
him  in  the  face  and  shrieked,  "  Vou  are  not  my  boy!  "  and  then 
raved  again  and  tore  her  hair.  He  left  the  asylum  more  dead 
than  alive,  and  so  completely  hrtjken-hearted  that  he  died  in 
a  few  months,  ^'es,  the  fruit  was  long  growing,  but  at  last  it 
ripened  to  the  harvest  like  a  whirlwind,  and  vengeance  made 
quick  work  of  it.     The  death  harvest  was  reaped. 

.And  that  is  true  in  regartl  not  only  to  individuals  but  to 
nations.  Nations  are  only  collections  of  individuals,  and  what 
is  true  of  a  part,  in  regard  to  character,  is  always  true  of  the 
wliole.  In  this  country  our  forefathers  planted  slavery  in  the 
face  of  an  open  lUble,  and  didn't  we  have  to  real)?  When  the 
harvest  came,  nearly  half  a  million  of  our  young  men  were 
buried,  many  of  them  in  nameless  graves.  Didn't  God  make 
this  nation  weep  in  the  hour  of  gathering  the  harvest,  when 
we  had  to  give  up  our  young  men,  both  North  and  South,  to 
death;  and  almost  every  household  had  an  empty  chair,  and 
blood,  blood,  blood,  flowed  like  water  for  four  long  years? 
Ah,  our  nation  sowed,  and  how  in  tears  and  groans  she  had 
to  reap! 

Once,  in  speaking  to  His  disciples,  Christ  sjjoke  about 
being  cast  into  hell,  "  where  the  worm  dieth  not." 

I  believe  the  worm  that  dieth  not  is  our  memory;  I  believe 
that  what  will  make  that  world  of  the  lost  so  terrible  to  us  is 
memorv.  We  say  now  that  we  forget,  and  we  think  we  do, 
but  the  time  is  coming  when  we  will  remenil)er,  and  we  cannot 
forget.  MemorN'  is  (iod's  oflicer;  and  when  (iod  touches  its 
secret  springs  and  savs,  "  .Sun,  remember,"  we  cannot  hel])  but 
remember.  When  He  shall  say,  "  Son  and  daughter,  remem- 
ber," tram]i,  tram]),  tram])  will  come  before  us  a  long  proces- 
sion—  all  the  sins  we  have  ever  committed. 

T  have  been  twice  in  the  jaws  of  death.  Once  T  was  drown- 
ing, and  as  T  was  about  to  sink  the  third  time  I  was  rescued. 


THK    REAl'lNG-TLMb:    MUST    COMK. 


'■S 


111  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  it  seemed  as  though  everything  I 
had  said,  done,  or  thought  of  Hashed  across  ni}-  mind.  I  do 
not  understand  how  everything  in  a  man's  hfe  can  be  crowded 
into  his  recollection  in  an  instant  of  time,  but  nevertheless  it 
all  flashed  through  my  mind.  Another  time  when  I  thought 
I  was  dying  the  past  all  came  back  to  me  again.  It  is  just  so 
that  all  things  we  think  we  have  forgotten  will  come  back  to 
us  by  and  by.     It  is  only  a  question  of  time. 

I  was  at  the  Paris  Exhibition  in  1867.  and  I  noticed  there 
a  little  oil  painting,  only  about  a  foot  square,  called  "  Sowing 
the  Tares."  The  face  of  the  sower  looked  more  like  that  of  a 
demon  than  a  man.  As  he  sowed  the  tares,  up  came  serpents 
and  reptiles,  and  the}'  were  crawling  up  on  his  body,  and  all 
around  were  woods  with  wolves  prowling  in  them.  I  have 
seen  that  ]iicture  manv  times  since.  Ah!  the  reaping  time  is 
coming.  If  you  sow  to  the  flesh  you  must  reap  the  flesh.  If 
you  sow  to  the  wind  you  must  reap  the  whirlwind.  You  can 
decide  your  destiny  if  you  will.  Heaven  and  hell  are  set  be- 
fore you,  and  you  are  called  upon  to  choose.  Which  will  you 
have?  If  you  will  accept  Christ  He  will  receive  you  to  His 
arms.     If  you  reject  Him  He  will  reject  }'0U. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

TEMPERANCE. —  TO  DRUNKARDS  AND  REFORMED  MEN. 

Bound  Hand  and  Foot  —  Carried  Over  the  Rapids  —  Sowing  Wild 
Oats  —  A  Thrilling  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Experience  —  Beg- 
ging for  Mercy  in  the  Dying  Hour  —  The  Drunkard's  Home  and 
Family  — The  Ragged  and  Filthy  Tramp —  "  I  Have  Got  it 
Now  "  —  The  Arrow  that  Reached  His  Heart  —  Remarkable 
Story  of  a  Vagrant  and  Outcast  —  A  Chicago  Business  ]\Ian's 
Experience  —  The  Preacher  Who  Made  an  Impression  —  "Mary, 
I  Wish  You  Would  Pray  for  Me "  —  Keeping  Out  of  Debt  — 
Working  for  Twenty-five  Cents  a  Week  —  "  That's  the  Man  for 
Me  "  —  Praying  to  God  for  More  —  "I  Guess  I'll  Reform  Too  " — 
Three  Hundred  Cords  of  Wood  and  a  Lot  of  Sawbucks  —  Drink- 
ing Up  a  Coat  —  "  Mike,  Where  are  your  Shoes?  "  —  Waiting  For 
Something  to  Turn  Up  —  Singing  Hymns  in  Haunts  of  Vice  — 
Taking  Sixteen  Men  Out  of  a  Saloon  in  One  Night. 

THERE  was  not  a  day  that  some  poor  captive  did  not 
come  to  our  meetings  boimd  hand  and  foot  with  the 
chains  of  intemperance.  Some  of  them  said,  "  Oh,  I'm 
all  right  ";  others  said,  "  I'll  come  'round  all  right  in  a  little 
while  ";  and  some  said,  "  I  took  the  pledge,  and  broke  it.  and 
kept  on  drinking  until  the  habit  became  a  cord  that  bound  me 
to  intemperance;  and  the  cord  became  a  chain,  and  now  I  can- 
not break  away  from  it."  Thank  God.  T  can  proclaim  the 
good  news  that  Christ  can  deliver  you  from  all  your  sins.  I 
don't  care  if  you  are  bound  hand  and  fcjot  with  sin.  He  will 
save  you  if  you  only  come  to  Him. 

How  many  young  men  there  are  whose  characters  have 
been  blasted  by  strong  drink.  How  many  brilliant  men  have 
gone  down  to  death  through  it.  Some  of  tlie  noblest  states- 
men, some  of  the  most  brilliant  orators  and  men  of  all  profes- 
sions, have  been  borne  to  a  drunkard's  grave.  Many  men  say, 
"  I  am  not  going  down  to  a  drunkard's  grave."     They  think 

(226) 


THE    RESISTLESS    CURRENT.  22/ 

they  have  sufficient  strength  of  will  to  stop  drinking  when  they 
choose.  When  strong  drink  gets  a  firm  hold  there  is  nothing 
within  us  by  which  we  can  save  ourselves.  God  alone  can  give 
you  power  to  resist  the  cup  of  temptation.  He  alone  can  give 
vou  power  to  overcome  its  influence. 

Look  at  that  man  in  a  boat  on  Niagara  River.  He  is  only 
a  mile  from  the  rapids.  A  man  on  the  bank  of  the  river  shouts 
to  him: 

"  Young  man,  the  rapids  are  not  far  away,  you'd  better 
pull  for  the  shore." 

"  You  attend  to  your  own  business;  I  will  take  care  of  my- 
self," he  replies. 

Xow  he  has  got  a  little  nearer,  and  another  man  on  the 
bank  sees  his  danger,  and  shouts: 

"Stranger,  you'd  better  pull  for  the  shore;  there's  danger 
ahead,  and  if  you  go  further  you'll  be  lost.  You  can  save  your- 
self now  if  you  pull  in." 

"  Mind  your  own  business;  I'll  take  care  of  myself." 

On  he  goes.  I  can  see  him  in  the  boat  enjoying  himself 
and  laughing  at  the  danger.  Another  man  on  the  bank  is 
looking  at  him,  and  he  lifts  up  his  voice  and  cries: 

"Stranger,  stranger,  the  rapids  are  below  you;  pull  quick 
for  the  shore;  if  you  don't,  you  will  lose  your  life;  "  and  the 
young  man  laughs  at  him  —  mocks  him.  By  and  by  the 
young  man  says: 

"  I  think  I  hear  the  rapids  —  yes,  I  hear  them  roar;  "  and 
he  seizes  his  oars  and  pulls  with  all  his  strength,  but  the  current 
is  too  swift.  Nearer  and  nearer  he  is  drawn  to  the  brink  of 
that  awful  abyss,  until  with  one  unearthly  cry,  over  he  goes. 

Ah,  my  friends,  this  is  the  case  with  hundreds.  They  are 
in  the  current  of  riches,  of  pleasure,  of  drink,  that  will  take 
them  to  the  whirlpool.  Satan  has  them  blindfolded,  and  they 
are  on  the  road  to  destruction. 

Think  of  the  lost  souls  in  the  saloons  and  gambling  dens  — 
young  men  who  are  noble,  who  might  be  jewels  that  would 
sparkle  in  the  Saviour's  crown  for  eternity,  and  yet  Satan  is 


228  THE    DVIXC.   DRUXKARI). 

taking  them  bodil}'  down  to  death.  Is  it  not  written  that 
drunkards  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  Is  God 
true  or  not?  If  any  man  tells  you  that  a  drunkard  can  reel 
into  Heaven,  tell  him  he  is  a  liar.  Heaven  would  be  as  cor- 
rupt as  earth  if  that  were  possible. 

We  hear  some  young  men  say  in  a  jesting  way,  "  Oh,  we 
are  only  sowing  our  wild  oats;  we  will  get  over  this  by  and  by." 
I  have  seen  men  reap  their  wild  oats.  I  remember  I  went 
home  one  night  and  found  my  household  in  alarm.  They  had 
seen  a  man  come  running  down  the  street,  and  as  he  ap- 
proached the  house  he  gave  an  unearthly  scream,  and  in 
terror  they  bolted  the  door.  He  came  right  up  to  the  front 
door,  and  instead  of  ringing  the  bell,  he  tried  to  push  the  door 
in.  They  asked  him  what  he  wanted,  and  he  said  he  wanted 
to  see  me.  They  told  him  I  was  at  the  meeting,  and  away  he 
ran,  and  tliev  could  hear  his  screams  and  groans  as  he  disap- 
peared. 1  was  coming  along  the  street,  and  he  shot  past  me 
like  an  arrow.  But  he  had  seen  me,  and  he  turned  and  seized 
me  by  the  arm,  saying  eagerly: 

"  I  have  got  to  die  to-night.  Can  I  be  saved?  The  devil 
is  coming  to  me  at  one  o'clock  to-night." 

"  My  friend,  you  are  mistaken,"  I  said. 

I  thought  the  man  was  sick.  T.ut  he  persisted  that  the 
devil  had  come  and  laid  his  hand  upon  him,  and  told  him 
that  he  might  have  till  one  o'clock  that  night.     I  said: 

"  He  will  not  come  after  you." 

"  He  will;  there's  no  chance  of  my  getting  away  from  him. 
He  is  coming!  Won't  you  go  up  to  my  house  and  sit 
with  me?  " 

I  couldn't  convince  him.  so  I  persuaded  some  friends  to  go 
to  his  house  and  look  after  him.  At  one  o'clock  that  night  the 
devils  came  into  his  room,  and  the  six  men  there  could  not 
hold  him.     He  screamed, 

"  Look  there !  See  them  !  There  they  are  !  They  are  after 
me!  He  is  taking  me!  He  is  going  to  take  me  to  hell!  He 
is  after  me!  " 


TIIK    RUMSELLER'S    PMNISHMEXT. 


229 


He  was  reaping  what  he  had  sown.  When  Ueatli  came 
and  laid  his  icy  hand  upon  him,  Oh,  how  he  cried  for  mercy  — 
how  he  besought  pardon.  Ah,  yes,  young  men,  you  may  say, 
in  a  jesting  way,  that  you  are  "  sowing  your  wild  oats,"  but 
the  reaping  time  is  coming. 

Look  at  that  rumseller.  \Mien  we  talk  to  him  lie  laughs 
at  us.  He  tells  us  there  is  no  hell,  no  future,  no  retribution. 
I  remember  one  saloon  keeper  who  ruined  nearly  all  the  young 
men  in  his  neighborhood.  Mothers  and  fathers  went  to  him 
and  begged  him  not  to  sell  their  sons  liquor.  He  told  them  it 
was  his  business  to  sell  liquor,  and  that  he  was  going  to  sell 
it  to  every  one  who  wanted  it.  His  saloon  was  a  foul  l)lot  as 
dark  as  hell  upon  the  place.  But  he  had  a  son,  and  a  father's 
heart.  He  didn't  worship  God,  but  he  worshiped  that  boy. 
He  didn't  remember  that  whatsoever  a  man  sows,  that  shall 
he  reap.  Tin]e  rolled  on,  and  that  young  man  became  a  slave 
to  drink,  and  his  life  became  such  an  intolerable  burden  to  him- 
self that  he  put  a  revolver  to  his  head  and  blew  out  his  brains. 
The  father  lived  a  few  years  longer,  but  his  life  was  full  of 
bitterness,  and  he  went  down  to  his  grave  in  sorrow.  My 
friends,  we  generally  reap  what  we  sow.  The  reaping  may  not 
come  soon,  but  it  will  surely  come.  If  you  ruin  other  men's 
sons,  some  other  man  will  ruin  yours.  Rear  in  mind  God  is 
a  God  of  ecjuity;  He  is  a  God  of  justice.  He  is  not  going  to 
permit  you  to  ruin  other  men  and  then  escape  yourself. 

You  are  doing  the  devil's  work  when  you  rejoice  at  a 
man's  fall  instead  of  trying  to  raise  him  up.  Go  to  work  and 
get  him  away  from  the  devil  if  you  can.  When  the  devil  gets 
a  man  down,  a  good  many  tr_\-  to  help  the  devil  to  keep  him 
down.  Because  a  man  has  fallen  again  it  is  no  sign  that  he 
has  not  been  reclaimed.  A  man  came  into  one  of  our  meet- 
ings who  was  not  only  a  tramp,  but  he  had  sunk  about  as  low 
as  any  tramp  could  go.  His  will  power  was  gone.  He  had 
nothing  but  rags  to  cover  his  nakedness.  He  was  as  filthy  and 
as  far  gone  as  any  man  I  have  ever  seen.  He  remained  after 
the  second  meeting,  and  some  friends  prayed  with  him.  He 
15 


230  THK    HOPELESS    RECLAIMED. 

said,  "  Jesus  won't  answer  my  prayer,  I  am  too  great  a  sinner." 
He  afterwards  told  me  that  after  the  first  meeting-  he  had  a 
fifteen-cent  scrip'"  in  his  pocket,  and  he  said,  "  If  the  Lord  will 
help  me  keep  that  piece  of  scrip  twenty-four  hours  without 
spending  it  for  whiskey  I  will  regard  it  as  a  token  that  He  will 
answer  my  prayer."  He  had  no  j)lace  to  sleep,  so  he  walked 
the  streets  of  New  York  for  the  next  twenty-four  hours.  I 
met  him  sometime  afterwards  and  asked  him  how  he  was  get- 
ting along;  and  all  he  said  was,  "  I  have  got  it  now."  The  last 
time  I  heard  from  him  he  said,  "  I  have  got  it  now."  He 
hadn't  spent  it  fur  whiskey.  He  said  he  intended  to  keep  that 
piece  of  currency  as  long  as  he  lived.  That  shows  how  God 
can  save  the  poor  drunkard. 

In  Philadelphia,  at  one  of  our  meetings,  a  drunken  man 
arose.  Until  that  time  I  had  no  faith  that  a  man  could  be 
converted  while  intoxicated.  This  drunken  man  got  up  and 
shouted,  "  I  want  to  be  prayed  for."  His  friends  tried  to  quiet 
liim,  but  he  only  shouted  louder  "  I  want  to  be  prayed  for," 
and  three  times  he  repeated  his  request.  His  call  was  attended 
to,  and  he  was  converted.  God  has  power  to  convert  a  man 
even  when  he  is  drunk. 

I  have  still  another  lesson.  I  met  a  man  in  New  York  who 
was  an  earnest  worker,  and  I  asked  him  to  tell  me  his  ex- 
perience. He  said  he  hafl  licen  a  drunkard  for  over  twenty 
vears.  His  parents  had  forsaken  him,  and  his  wife  had  left 
him.  He  went  into  a  lawyer's  offiice  in  Poughkeepsie,  mad 
with  drink.  The  lawyer  proved  to  l)e  a  good  Samaritan,  and 
reasoned  with  him  and  told  him  he  could  be  saved.  The  man 
scouted  the  idea.  He  said:  "  I  nui'^t  be  jiretty  low  when  my 
father  and  mother,  my  wife  and  kindred,  have  cast  me  ofif; 
there  is  no  hope  for  me  here  or  hereafter."  P»ut  this  good 
Samaritan  showed  liim  how  i*  was  possible  to  secure  salvation, 
and  he  got  him  on  his  feet,  and  guided  him.  and  he  was  saved. 
He  said  to  me:  "  I  have  not  touched  a  dro])  of  liquor  since." 
He  became  leader  of  a  yotmg  men's  meeting  in  New  ^^ork. 


'Fractional  Currency  issued  by  the  Government  during  the  Civil  War. 


FINDING    A    FRIEND.  23 1 

I  asked  him  to  come  up  to  my  native  town,  where  there  were  a 
^^ood  many  drunkards,  thinking  he  might  encourage  them  to 
seek  salvation.  He  came  and  brought  a  young  man  with  him. 
They  hekl  a  meeting,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  power  of  God 
rested  upon  that  meeting  when  these  two  men  told  what  God 
had  done  for  them  — how  He  had  destroyed  the  work  of  the 
devil  in  their  hearts,  and  brought  peace  and  happiness  to 
their  souls. 

A  man  who  was  induced  to  come  into  one  of  our  meetings 
in  Chicago  slipped  out  and  didn't  come  back.  Some  friends 
found  out  his  name,  and  went  to  the  saloon  where  he  made  his 
l".ead(|uarters,  but  could  not  find  him;  they  went  there  a  num- 
ber of  times,  and  at  last  they  left  a  card  for  him,  which  was 
headed,  "  My  dear  friend."  He  was  a  miserable  drunkard;  his 
friends  had  left  him  and  he  was  sinking  rapidly  into  a  drunk- 
ard's grave;  he  thought  that  his  end  was  near,  and  he  had 
given  himself  up  to  die.  When  he  entered  the  saloon  the  little 
card  headed  "'  Aly  dear  friend  "  was  handed  to  him. 

"  Why,"  he  said,  sarcastically,  "  this  is  singular,  I've  got  a 
friend."     He  read  on: 

"  If  you  will  come  up  to  the  hotel  to-night  at  seven  o'clock, 
I  should  like  to  see  you." 

He  read  it  again,  and  said: 

"  But  I  have  no  real  friend,  and  I  don't  understand  what 
this  expression,  '  My  dear  friend,'  means."  He  said  it  went 
like  an  arrow  into  his  heart  and  burned  into  his  very  soul,  to 
think  that  some  one  should  address  him  as  "  My  dear  friend." 
While  drunk  he  had  fallen  in  the  street  and  his  face  was  badly 
bruised.  He  was  so  ashamed  of  himself  that  he  tried  to  get 
some  one  to  go  to  the  hotel  for  him.  Rut  he  found  that  he 
hadn't  many  friends  —  drunkards  don't  have  many  —  and  he 
had  to  go  himself.  When  he  arrived  at  the  hotel  he  was 
ashamed  to  go  in,  so  he  watched  from  behind  a  post  until  he 
saw  a  man  whom  he  had  seen  come  out  of  the  Tabernacle,  and 
v.hom  he  thought  might  be  the  man  who  had  sent  for  him. 
Approaching  him  he  said: 


232 


HOPE    FOR    THE    INEBRIATE. 


"  Is  your  name  Hawlcy?  " 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  have  been  looking  for  yon,  and  I 
want  you  to  come  down  to  the  Tabernacle." 

"  You  do;  well,  I  won't  go  to  the  Tabernacle." 

"  \\niy  not?" 

"  I  have  got  a  black  eye,  the  skin  is  broken  on  my  nose,  I 
am  dirty  and  disfigured,  and  I  won't  go." 

"  iUit  I  want  you  to  go." 

The  man  replied  that  he  could  not  go,  for  he  had  become 
so  much  of  a  slave  to  liquor  that  he  couldn't  sit  an  hour  in  a 
meeting  without  going  out  to  get  a  drink.  At  last  he  was  per- 
suaded to  go  in,  and  he  took  a  seat  behind  a  post.  He  went 
mto  the  inquiry-room,  and  that  very  night  the  Spirit  of  God 
met  him,  and  he  became  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  city. 
He  not  only  brought  his  friends  to  Christ,  but  he  went  into 
other  towns  telling  every  one  what  great  things  the  Lord  had 
done  for  him.  God  w'cnt  down  to  the  very  gates  of  hell  to  save 
that  man. 

So  let  us  tell  drunkards  there  is  hope;  let  us  tell  them  that 
the  Son  of  man  was  made  manifest  to  destroy  their  appetites, 
and  that  He  can  and  will  take  them  away.  He  can  destroy 
their  taste  for  liquor,  and  when  that  is  done  the  saloons  will 
soon  be  closed. 

In  one  of  our  temperance  meetings  in  Chicago  a  business 
man  arose  and  told  a  most  remarkable  story.  He  said  that 
eight  years  before,  he  was  a  confirmed  drunkard  ;  his  father, 
who  died  a  drunkard,  used  to  give  him  li(juor  when  he  was  a 
little  boy  of  four  years;  his  friends  had  forsaken  him;  he  had 
been  taken  into  court  and  sent  to  jail  as  a  vagrant;  his  only 
fear  was  that  the  ])nlicc  would  get  hold  of  him;  his  only  ambi- 
tion was  to  keep  out  of  the  hands  of  the  law  and  to  drink  liquor 
all  day  and  sleep  at  night  wherever  he  could.  One  night  he 
went  down  to  the  lake  shore,  and  a  tenible  storm  arose,  and 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  cried  to  God  to  help  him.  He 
said,  "  My  friends,  although  a  vagrant  and  an  outcast,  God 
met  me  there  on  the  lake  shore;  He  took  hold  of  my  right  hand 


WAITIXC.    AM)    WATflllXC 


235 


and  I  have  never  had  any  taste  for  Hqnor  since;  He  has  kept 
me  for  eight  years."  Now,  I  licheve  that  God  destroyed  that 
man's  appetite  for  hcjuor,  root  and  Ijranch. 

When  we  were  in  Chicago,  a  St.  Louis  merchant,  staying 
in  the  city  on  business,  heard  that  we  were  trying  to  reach  and 
reform  drinking  men ;  and  he  thought  he  woukl  try  to  induce 
a  friend,  who  was  a  hard  driid<er,  to  come  to  the  meeting. 
The  man  had  not  been  to  a  meeting  for  twenty  years.  For 
six  months  he  had  been  studying  the  Gospel  of  John,  and  try- 
ing to  prove  that  it  ought  not  to  he  in  the  Uible.  He  had 
settled  it  in  his  own  mind  tliat  it  ought  not  to  be  there.  He 
went  to  the  meeting  and  there  he  heard  tb.is  hymn  sung: 

"  When  my  final  farewell  to  the  world  I  have  said. 

And  gladly  lie  down  to  my  rest; 
When   softly  the  watchers  shall   say,   '  He  is  dead.' 

And  fold  my  pale  hands  o'er  my.  breast; 
And  when,  with  my  glorified  vision  at  last 

The  walls  of  "  That  City  '  I  see. 
Will  any  one  then  at  the  beautiful  gate. 

Be  Waiting  and  Watching  for  me?  " 

He  wondered  if  anyone  was  waiting  and  watching  for  him. 
He  went  out  of  the  meeting,  but  he  could  not  get  that  "  Wait- 
ing and  Watching  "  out  of  his  head.  He  went  to  the  hotel  and 
ate  dinner,  and  all  the  time  he  kept  saying  to  himself,  "  I 
wonder  if  anybody  is  waiting  and  watching  for  me."  He 
tossed  on  his  bed  all  night,  and  finally  got  up,  and  knelt  down 
and  prayed  for  the  first  time  in  his  life.  He  prayed  that  Christ 
would  have  mercy  on  him.  He  said,  "  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  take 
me  in  Thine  arms."  God  heard  his  prayer,  and  he  became  one 
of  the  best  workers  we  bad,  and  led  many  souls  to  Christ. 

There  are  people  who  tell  us  there  are  no  miracles  that 
cannot  be  explained  by  natural  causes.  They  try  to  prove 
that  all  the  miracles  Christ  performed  were  done  by  a  sort  of 
sleight-of-hand  performance;  that  nothing  su])ernatural  oc- 
curred while  Christ  was  upon  earth.  I  should  like  to  have 
a  man  explain  how  the  water  was  turned  to  wine;  in  fact. 
I  should  like  to  have  some  one  explain  how  He  performed  all 


236  KVERV-1>AV    .MIRACLES. 

these  miracles  if  they  were  not  supernatural.  I  think  that  we 
are  having;-  miracles  now  just  as  wonderful  as  those  which 
Christ  perfornicd  when  lie  was  t)n  earth.  In  one  of  our  meet- 
ings a  man  stated  that  he  had  l)een  a  confirmed  drunkard  for 
thirty  years,  and  that  God  had  taken  away  his  appetite  for 
strong  drink.  His  face  shone  as  he  told  what  God  had  done 
for  him.  The  conversion  of  tliat  man  I  considered  super- 
natural. I  should  like  to  have  a  man  explain  how  such  a  thing 
is  done  by  natural  causes.  I  know  there  are  a  great  many 
who  doubt  these  witnesses.  If  a  man  had  told  me  years  ago 
that  a  man  could  be  a  drunkard  for  tliirty  or  forty  years,  and 
then  could  have  his  appetite  taken  away  from  him,  I  should 
have  doul)te(l  his  word.  I  have  always  believed  that  God 
could  save  a  drunkard,  but  I  l)elieved  that  he  had  to  carry  that 
appetite  down  to  the  grave;  but  God,  I  find,  is  going  to  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil,  and  this  appetite  for  strong  drink  is 
one  of  the  devil's  works.  Taking  away  a  man's  appetite  for 
drink  is  supernatural  work,  and  that  is  what  (lod  does. 

Let  us  take  the  case  of  a  drunkard  who  has  heard  of  the 
saving  power  of  God.  I  think  a  drunkard's  home  is  about  the 
darkest  spot  on  earth;  I  think  it  is  about  as  near  hell  as  you 
can  get  in  this  world.  In  heathen  countries  I  liave  visited  I 
haven't  found  anything  darker  than  a  home  in  a  civilized  land 
where  there  is  a  drunken  father;  I  believe  a  drunken  fatlier  and 
a  drunkard's  home  is  the  curse  of  curses.  A  drunkard  is  a 
slave;  when  he  would  break  away  from  liquor  an  unseen  power 
drags  him  on ;  when  he  would  push  forward,  there  is  a  power 
that  holds  him  back.  Many  and  many  a  time  he  has  tried  to 
])reak  away  from  strong  drink  ;  l)ut  at  last  tlie  sim])le  truth 
reaches  him,  and  he  hears  that  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  look  to 
Jesus  Christ  for  salvation,  deliverance,  and  redemption.  He 
begins  to  wake  up  and  he  says,  "  I  wonder  if  it  is  true  that  I 
can  be  delivered  from  the  power  of  strong  drink?  'As  Moses 
lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of 
man  be  lifted  up,  that  whosoever  '  —  '  Whosoever  '  —  that 
means  me;  it  means  everv  drunkard.     'WHOSOEVER'  — 


HE    CAME    TO    SAVE    ME. 


237 


Thank  God  for  the  sweep  in  that  text.  Can  I  be  saved  from  a 
drunkard's  grave  and  a  drunkard's  hell,  and  onee  more  lift  up 
my  head  in  soeiety?  Can  my  children  look  up  to  me  once 
more  and  speak  to  me  respectfully?  That  would  be  a  wonder- 
ful transformation!     I  wonder  if  it  is  all  true?" 

He  goes  home  to  his  wife  and  asks: 

"  Mary,  have  we  a  Bible  in  the  house?" 

"  Oh,  John,"  Mary  says,  "  I  hope  you  are  not  going  to  take 
my  mother's  Bible  from  me;  it  is  the  only  thing  I  have  left  that 
mother  gave  me.  When  she  died  she  said.  '  Mary,  there  are 
untold  treasures  hidden  in  that  Book,  and  I  want  you  to  keep 
it.'  Oh,  John,  don't  pawn  it!  You  took  my  wedding  ring 
and  sold  it  for  whiskey,  and  you  have  sold  almost  everything 
else  for  whiskey;  but  you  are  not  going  to  sell  my  mother's 
Bible  for  whiskey,  are  you?" 

"  No,"  says  John,  "  I  don't  want  to  pawn  it;  just  go  and 
get  it." 

And  she  brings  the  Bible,  and  John  says: 

"  I  wish  you  would  find  the  third  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of 
John." 

She  finds  the  place  at  last,  and  begins  to  read;  and  when 
she  gets  along  down  to  the  fourteenth  verse,  John  stops  her 
and  says: 

"  Just  read  that  again,  carefully."     And  she  reads  it  again. 

"  Mary,"  says  John,  "  I  thought  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the 
world  to  condemn  me,  because  I  am  a  drunkard,  l)ecause  I  am 
a  poor  sinner.  I  have  condemned  myself;  my  children  have 
condemned  me;  my  father  has  condemned  me;  my  mother  has 
condemned  me;  but  1  read  there  for  the  first  time  that  Jesus 
Christ  didn't  come  to  condemn  me.  He  came  to  saz'c  me."  It 
began  to  dawn  upon  him  that  God  sent  His  Son  that  he  might 
be  delivered. 

"  Mar}-,  can  you  pray?  " 

"  Well,  John,  I  used  to  know  how  to  pray,  but  when  things 
got  so  bad,  I  became  discouraged  and  gave  up  praying." 

"Won't  you  try?     I  want  you  to  pray  for  me." 


2-8  A    WONDERFUL    TRANSFORMATION. 

And  I  see  the  poor  drunkard  and  his  wife  get  down  on  their 
knees,  and  she  tries  to  pray  that  God  will  deliver  him.  Then 
John  tries  to  pray;  he  can't  pray  very  well,  but  it  is  an  honest 
cry  for  mercy.  The  greatest  drunkard  will  be  heard,  if  there 
is  an  honest  cry  for  help;  in  prayer  he  is  looking  away  from 
man  to  a  higher  source;  he  is  looking  to  God,  who  has 
almighty  power.     After  a  while  he  says: 

"  Mary,  I  never  had  such  a  feeling  in  my  heart  as  I  have 
now;  "  and  he  kisses  his  wife.  It  is  a  long  time  since  he  kissed 
her,  and  the  dear  woman  begins  to  think  how  happy  she  was 
when  she  first  married  him. 

The  next  morning  he  repeats  that  prayer;  they  wake  up  the 
children,  and  the  children  can't  understand  it;  they  have  been 
used  to  hearing  him  curse  and  swear,  and  now  he  is  talking 
about  religion,  and  ])raying.  He  speaks  kindly  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  they  can  hardly  believe  their  senses.  He  goes  out 
and  finds  work'  that  brings  him  in  a  dollar.  He  passes  the 
saloon  on  his  way  home,  but  he  docs  not  go  in.  God  has  kci)t 
him  all  day,  and  no  Rothschild  ever  felt  so  rich  as  when  he 
went  home  with  that  dollar  for  his  family. 

Go  into  that  home  six  months  hence,  and  the  place  is  trans- 
formed. The  rags  are  gone  from  the  windows,  the  old  broken 
furniture  is  gone,  and  new  has  taken  its  place.  The  wife  has 
grown  ten  years  younger,  and  is  happy  and  cheerful.  After 
supper  he  sings  the  old  liynm. 

"  Ju.st  as  I  am  without  one  pica. 
But  that  Thy  blood  was  shed  ft)r  mo; 
And  that  Thou  bidst  mc  conic  to  Tliee; 
Oh,  Lamb  of  God,  I  cnmc." 

The  miserv  and  woe  and  the  curses  of  the  drunkard  are  gone 
forever,  and  songs  of  Zion  are  sung  in  that  home.  Thank 
God!  that  is  taking  place  all  over  our  land. 


'i"he  first  dutv  of  a  reformed  man  is  to  take  care  of  his 
famib'.  ^'our  money  belongs  at  home.  If  your  wife  has  had  a 
hard  struggle,  and  you  have  l)een  s(|uandering  your  money  in 


S-5 


5.3 


SOME    PRACTICAL    ADVICE.  24I 

saloons  and  rumshops,  you  want  to  take  it  home  now;  your 
aim  should  be  to  make  your  home  just  as  comfortable  for  your 
dear  ones  as  you  possibly  can.  Clothe  your  children,  and 
don't  let  them  be  hooted  at  on  the  street  as  children  of  a 
drunkard.  Give  them  comfortable  clothes  and  a  comfortable 
home. 

Now,  here  is  a  question  that  has  been  asked:  "  Ought  a 
man  to  pay  his  liquor  bills  after  he  is  converted?  "  "  Render 
unto  Qesar  the  things  wdiich  are  C?esar's."  If  you  want  to  have 
any  influence  with  these  rumsellers,  go  and  pay  your  bills.  If 
vou  owe  a  liquor  bill,  the  mistake  is  made;  you  never  ought  to 
have  contracted  the  bill,  but  you  must  go  and  pay  the  debt. 
We  have  a  right  to  go  into  debt  for  only  one  thing,  and  that  is 
love.  I  believe  that  a  great  many  people  are  suffering  a  thou- 
sand times  more  than  they  would  if  they  had  not  run  into  debt, 
not  only  for  liquor,  but  for  other  things. 

If  you  will  take  my  advice,  you  will  keep  out  of  debt.  If 
friends  want  to  advance  money  to  help  you,  tell  them  you 
won't  have  it.  I  would  rather  have  twenty-five  cents  that  I 
liave  earned  by  the  sweat  of  my  brow  than  twenty-five  dollars 
that  I  have  borrowed,  and  which  I  shall  have  to  pay  back. 
Work  }-our  own  way  up  to  the  to]")  of  the  ladder  and  you  are 
likely  to  stay  there;  but  if  you  are  lifted  up  there  you  will  be  all 
the  time  tumbling  back  and  you  will  get  disheartened  and  dis- 
couraged. It  may  l)c  that  it  will  take  years  for  some  of  you 
to  pav  your  debts;  but  if  your  hearts  are  right,  and  your  pur- 
pose right,  and  you  mean  to  jwy  your  liills,  and  do  pay  them 
just  as  soon  as  you  can,  that  is  just  as  acceptable  to  God  as  if 
vou  ])ai(I  them  all  at  once.  If  reformed  men  are  deeply  in 
debt,  and  they  have  not  a  jienny  to  pay  with,  their  creditors 
must  wait. 

I  have  great  confidence  in  men  who  profess  to  be  re- 
claimed, if  the^■  show  a  disposition  to  go  to  work.  That  is  a 
very  sure  sign  of  reformation.  If  you  cannot  get  as  much  for 
your  work  as  you  think  you  ought  to  have,  get  whatever  you 
can.     Rut  some  of  these  men  have  not  done  amthing  for  vears 


o^2  GETTING    A    FOOTHOLD. 

but  drink  liquor,  and  they  are  not  fit  for  much  at  first.  It  is 
difficult  to  get  them  situations,  and  if  we  do  succeed  in  getting 
them  work  they  ought  to  take  it  and  thank  God  for  it.  If  it  is 
not  what  you  like,  thank  God  that  it  is  something.  Some- 
thing is  a  good  deal  better  than  nothing.  There  was  a  con- 
verted man  in  Chicago  who  could  not  get  the  kind  of  work  he 
wanted,  but  he  found  a  man  who  would  board  him  and  give 
him  twenty-five  cents  a  week.  He  accepted  the  offer  and  went 
to  work.  Twenty-five  cents  a  week!  Well,  that  wasn't  much, 
but  he  got  his  board,  and  that  was  a  good  deal.  Pretty  soon  a 
business  man  heard  of  it,  and  he  said,  "  That's  the  man  for  me; 
that  is  just  the  man  I  want;  "  and  he  hired  him  and  gave  him 
four  dollars  a  day.  There  is  many  a  man  who  will  help  you 
up  if  vou  will  show  a  disposition  to  help  yourselves.  You 
must  be  such  true  men,  and  so  helpful  to  your  employers  that 
tb.ev  cannot  get  along  without  you,  and  then  you  will  work 
up,  and  your  employer  wall  increase  your  wages.  If  a  man 
works  in  the  interest  of  his  employer  he  will  be  sure  to  keep 
him  and  treat  him  well;  but  if  he  only  works  for  money  and 
don't  take  any  interest  in  his  employer's  business,  he  will  soon 
let  him  go.  They  can  get  any  number  of  such  men;  but  when 
they  get  hold  of  a  man  that  takes  a  real  interest  in  his  work  he 
cannot  be  spared,  for  such  men  are  scarce.  If  you  cannot  earn 
more  than  a  dollar  a  week,  earn  that.  That  is  better  than 
nothing,  and  you  can  pray  to  God  for  more. 

If  you  are  looking  for  work  do  not  ])cg.  Ask  for  some- 
thing to  do.  Your  meals  will  taste  a  good  deal  sweeter  when 
you  have  earned  them  by  the  sweat  of  your  brow.  There  was 
one  good  thing  about  the  ])rc)(Hgal  son,  he  would  not  beg,  and 
he  would  not  steal.  He  would  not  even  steal  the  swine's  food. 
That  is  the  kind  of  men  we  want  now.  If  you  will  not  beg  or 
steal,  men  will  respect  and  hel])  you.  What  we  want  to-day  is 
true  men,  and  if  ]H'0])1c'  find  that  you  arc  a  true  man,  they  will 
make  room  for  you.  It  may  be  hard  to  get  the  first  foothold, 
but  if  you  hold  right  on,  God  will  open  a  way  for  you,  and.  if 
need  be,  send  down  a  legion  of  angels  to  help  you. 


PRETKNDEl)    CONVP'.RTS.  243 

"  What  wouUl  }ou  do  with  a  man  that  would  not  work?  " 
I  think  Paul  has  it  right:  "  if  any  would  not  work,  neither 
should  he  eat."  I  think  we  are  doing  men  a  great  injury  if  we 
continue  to  help  them  when  they  won't  work.  Some  of  these 
men  have  professed  Christ,  but  there  is  a  difference  between 
conversion  and  being  born  of  God;  being  regenerated.  We 
are  living  in  davs  of  sham  — •  and  sometimes  when  these  men 
see  that  others  are  getting  food  and  new  clothes,  they  say: 
"  Those  fellows  arc  making  a  good  thing  out  of  it;  I  guess  I'll 
reform,  too." 

When  I  was  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation in  Chicago  men  were  coming  in  all  the  time  for  work. 
They  would  tell  harrowing  tales  about  their  suffering,  how 
they  had  no  work,  and  how  much  they  w'anted  help.  At  last 
I  got  two  or  three  hundred  cords  of  wood  and  put  it  in  a  vacant 
lot,  and  I  got  a  lot  of  saws  and  sawbucks  and  kept  them  out  of 
sight.     When  a  man  came  in  and  asked  for  help,  I  would  say: 

"  Why  don't  you  work?  " 

"  Can't  get  any." 

"  Would  you  work  if  you  could  get  it?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  Pd  work  at  anything." 

"  Would  you  really  w-ork  in  the  street?  " 

"  Yes." 

"Would  you  saw  wood?" 

"  Yes." 

"All  right." 

Then  we  w'ould  bring  out  a  saw  and  a  sawbuck  and  send 
him  out  into  the  lot,  but  we  would  send  a  boy  to  watch  him,  to 
see  that  he  didn't  steal  the  saw.  By  and  by  the  fellow  would 
say: 

"  T  guess  I'll  go  home  and  tell  my  wife  I  have  got  some 
work,"  and  that  would  be  the  last  w^e  would  see  of  him. 

That  whole  winter  I  never  got  more  than  three  or  four 
cords  of  wood  sawed. 

If  vou  are  always  showering  money  on  these  shiftless  men, 
and  giving  them  food  and  clothing,  they  will  live  in  idleness, 


2AA  NO    CHARITY    FOR    THK    LAZY. 

and  not  only  ruin  themselves,  but  their  children.  It  is  not 
charity  at  all  to  help  them  when  they  will  not  work.  If  a  man 
v/ill  not  work,  let  him  starve.  I  never  heard  of  their  really 
starving  to  death.  1  had  charge  of  relief  work  in  Chicago  for 
a  number  of  years,  and  1  was  brought  into  contact  with  a  good 
many  of  these  lazy  men,  and  I  say  there  is  no  hope  of  a  man 
who  will  not  work.  Talk  about  their  conversion  —  it  is  often 
onlv  just  put  on  to  get  a  little  money  without  work.  This  is 
the  class  we  have  so  much  difficulty  with  in  large  cities. 

I  knew  one  of  these  men  in  Chicago  who  did  not  drink,  but 
he  was  always  poor.  What  kept  him  down  I  could  not  tell. 
He  had  five  children.  I  do  not  believe  his  furniture  was  worth 
five  dollars,  and  he  had  no  beds.  One  cold  day  he  came  to 
see  me.  He  said  the  landlord  had  put  his  family  out  on  the 
prairie.     I  said : 

"  McDonald,  you  are  a  mystery  to  me;  I  have  known  you 
for  years;  what  do  you  do  with  your  money?  I  begin  to  think 
you  are  lazy." 

"  I  think  you  hit  it  there,"  he  said. 

"  Well,  you  must  go,"  I  said.  "  I  pity  your  wife  and  chil- 
dren, but  I  am  not  going  to  take  care  of  a  lazy  man,  like  you 
all  winter." 

"  That's  pretty  hard,"  he  said. 

"  I  know  it  is,  but  I  can't  help  it." 

That  was  in  the  morning.  About  five  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon he  came  back.  He  asked  for  a  place  for  his  children  to 
sleep.  He  knew  I  wouldn't  let  those  children  stay  out  all 
night;  he  knew  he  had  me.     T  said: 

"  What  have  you  been  doing  all  day?  " 

He  used  a  great  many  Ing  words,  and  said  he  had  been 
studying  the  philosophy  of  pauperism! 

We  have  got  to  take  care  of  the  cliildren;  but  these  able- 
bodied  lazy  men,  if  they  will  not  work,  must  starve. 

A  man  once  said  to  me  that  he  didn't  believe  there  was  any 
love  at  all;  that  Christians  professed  to  have  love.  1)ut  he 
didn't  believe  they  ought  to  have  two  coats.     I  think  he  re- 


EVILS    OF    PROMISCUOUS  CHARITY. 


245 


fleeted  on  me,  because  I  had  on  my  overcoat  at  the  time,  and 
he  hadn't  got  any.  1  looked  at  him  and  said:  "  Suppose  I 
sliould  give  you  one  of  my  coats,  you  would  pawn  it  for  drink 
before  sundown.  I  love  }ou  too  much  to  give  you  my  coat 
and  have  you  drink  it  up."  A  good  many  people  complain 
that  Christians  don't  have  the  love  they  ought  to  have  for  their 
fellow  men;  but  I  tell  you  it  is  no  sign  of  want  of  love  that  we 
don't  love  the  downright  lazy  man. 

Some  years  ago  I  picked  up  several  children  in  Chicago, 
and  thought  I  would  clothe  and  feed  them;  and  T  took  special 
interest  in  those  boys,  to  see  what  I  could  make  of  them.  I 
don't  believe  it  was  thirty  days  before  the  clothes  I  had  given 
them  had  all  gone  for  whiskey;  the  fathers  had  drank  them  up. 
One  day  I  met  one  of  these  little  fellows,  for  whom  I  had 
i)ought  a  pair  of  shoes  only  the  day  before.  It  was  beginning 
to  snow,  and  he  was  barefooted. 

"  Mike,"  said  I,  "  how's  this?     Where  are  your  shoes?  " 

"  Father  and  mother  took  them  away,"  said  he. 

There  it  was;  the  shoes  had  probably  been  drunk  up. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  promiscuous  charity  that  really  does 
a  great  deal  of  mischief;  and  people  must  not  think,  because 
we  don't  give  them  m.oney  to  aid  them  in  their  poverty,  that  we 
don't  love  them.  I  believe  if  the  prodigal  son  could  have  got 
all  the  money  he  wanted  in  that  foreign  country  he  w'ould 
never  have  returned  home.  It  was  a  good  thing  for  him  that 
he  got  hard  up,  and  had  to  live  on  the  husks  that  the  swine 
ate.  It  is  a  good  thing  that  people  should  suffer.  If  lazy  men 
get  a  good  living  without  work,  they  w'ill  never  work.  God 
has  decreed  that  man  shall  earn  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of  his 
1»row,  and  not  live  on  other  people.  A  good  manv  men  are 
always  waiting  for  something  to  turn  up.  instead  of  going  out 
and  turning  up  something  —  looking  for  it  and  finding  it. 

Let  those  men  who  have  been  drunkards  just  set  out  and 
work  among  their  old  friends.  No  man  can  reach  a  drunkard 
better  than  one  who  has  been  a  drunkard  himself. 

I  don't  know  any  work  so  blessed  as  going  into  saloons 


246 


COSPKL    SOXC.S    IX    A    SALOON. 


and  preaching  the  gospel  there.  If  drunkards  will  not  come  to 
church,  go  down  where  they  are,  in  the  name  of  our  God,  and 
you  will  reach  them.  If  you  say,  "  Oh,  they  will  put  me  out." 
I  say,  "  No,  I  have  never  been  turned  out  of  a  saloon  in  my 
life."  Go  down  in  a  saloon  where  there  are  thirty  or  forty  men 
playing  cards  and  drinking,  and  ask  them  if  they  don't  want  to 
hear  a  little  singing.     They  will  probably  say: 

'*  Yes,  we  don't  mind  your  singing." 

"  Well,  what  kind  of  music  will  you  have?  "  And  prob- 
ably they  will  ask  you  to  sing  a  comic  song. 

"  lUit  we  don't  know  how  to  sing  comic  songs.  Wouldn't 
)ou  like  to  h.ave  us  sing  the  '  Star  Spangled  Banner,'  or  '  My 
Country,  'tis  of  Thee?" 

And  so  you  sing  "  IMy  Onuitry,  'tis  of  Thee,"  and  by  and 
by  they  stop  playing  cards  to  listen. 

"  Now,  boys,  wouldn't  you  like  to  have  us  sing  a  hymn  our 
mothers  taught  us  when  we  were  boys?  " 

And  then  you  sing 

"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 
Drawn  from  Inimanuel's  veins; 
And   sinners    plunged   beneath    that    Hood 
Lose  all  their  guilty  stains." 

Or  sing  "  Rock  of  Ages,  Cleft  for  Me,"  and  it  won't  be  long 
before  hats  will  come  ofif,  and  those  men  will  remember  how 
their  mothers  used  to  sing  hynuis  to  them,  and  the  tears  will 
run  down  their  cheeks;  and  soon  you  can  read  to  them  a  few 
verses  out  of  the  lUble,  and  ])ray  with  them,  and  you  will  be 
having  a  prayer-meeting  there  before  you  know  it.  We  took 
sixteen  out  of  a  saloon  in  that  way  one  niglit,  and  nine  (if  them 
went  into  the  inquiry-room.  If  these  men  will  not  come  out 
to  hear  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  let  us  carry  it 
into  saloons  and  wretched  homes. 


—  -.il   "0 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE   INFINITE  LOVE  OF  GOD. 

A  Business  Man's  Novel  Suggestion  —  A  Touching  Incident  —  The 
Motto  in  Gas-jets  —  The  Most  Beautiful  Thing  in  the  World — • 
An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Dublin  Experience  —  What  Changed 
Mr.  Moody's  Ideas  about  Preaching  —  Sentenced  to  Death  —  A 
Mother's  Anguish  —  A  Son's  Untimely  End  —  Asking  to  be  Laid 
Beside  her  Dead  Boy  —  Seeking  the  California  Gold  Fields  — 
No  Room  in  the  Lifeboats  —  Remarkable  Instance  of  a  Mother's 
Love  —  "  Tell  Your  Father  I  Died  to  Save  You  "  —  A  Father's 
Search  for  His  ./lissing  Son  —  How  He  was  Found  in  San  Fran- 
cisco —  Story  of  the  Boys  Who  were  forbidden  to  Climb  Trees  — 
The  Little  Dirty  Chimney-sweep  —  Clasped  to  Flis  Mother's 
Bosom  —  Mr.  Spurgeon  and  the  Weather-vane. 

I  WAS  once  erecting  a  building  in  Chicago  for  workingmen, 
and  a  business  man  said  to  me,  "  I  would  like  to  put  up 

a  text  on  the  wall  of  that  building."  I  supposed  he  was 
going  to  put  up  a  motto  in  fine  fresco.  But  I  soon  found  the 
gas-fitter  was  working  back  of  the  pulpit. 

"  What  are  you  doing?  "  I  said. 

"  Putting  in  gas  jets,"  he  replied.  And,  to  my  amazement, 
I  found  he  was  putting  up  the  motto  "  GOD  IS  LOA'E."  in 
gas  jets  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  light  the  church  without 
lighting  that  text. 

One  night  a  man  was  going  by  and  he  saw  the  gas-lighted 
text "  GOD  IS  LOVE,"  and  he  said  to  himself  "  God  is  love." 
"  God  is  love."  By  and  by  he  came  back,  and  he  looked  at  it 
again.  I  saw  him  come  in  and  take  a  seat  by  the  door.  Soon 
he  put  his  hands  up  to  his  face,  and  once  in  a  while  I  would  see 
tears  running  down  his  cheeks,  and  I  was  foolish  enough  to 
think  they  were  caused  by  my  preaching.  I  went  to  him  and 
said: 

(249) 


2;o 


THE    TEXT    IX    LETTERS    OF    LIGHT. 


"What  is  the  trouble?" 

"  I  don't  know." 

"  \\"hat  was  there  in  the  sermon  that  made  you  cry?" 

"  I  didn't  know  you  had  been  preacliiuj;'." 

"Well,  what  was  it  that  trembled  you;  was  it  anything  in 
the  songs?  " 

"  I  don't  know  anything  about  the  songs." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  what  ;'.!.■  the  matter?  " 

"  That  text  up  there,"  he  replied. 
V'  ]\Iy  man,"  I  said,  "  believe  that  (iod  loves  you." 
^"  r  am  not  worth  loving." 

"  That's  true,"  I  said,  "  but  He  loves  you  all  the  more." 
And  I  sat  there  a  half-hour,  and  the  truth  of  God's  love  shone 
into  his  soul  and  he  became  a  new  man. 

If  I  tlumglit  I  could  make  the  world  believe  that  (lod  is  love 
I  would  have  only  that  one  text,  and  I  would  go  up  and  down 
the  earth  trying  to  counteract  what  Satan  has  been  telling  men 
—  that  God  IS  not  love.  He  has  made  the  world  believe  it 
effectually.  It  would  not  take  twenty-four  hours  to  make  the 
world  come  to  God  if  you  could  only  make  them  believe  that 
God  is  love. 

There  was  a  time  when  I  preached  that  God  hated  the 
sinner,  and  that  He  was  after  every  poor  siiuier  with  a  double- 
edged  sword,  ready  to  hew  him  down.  I'ut  T  have  changed 
my  ideas  upon  this  point.     T  will  tell  you  liow. 

When  I  was  preaching  in  T)til)lin  a  young  man  who  did 
not  look  over  seventeen,  though  he  was  really  older,  said  he 
would  like  to  go  back  to  America  with  me  and  preach  the 
Gospel.  I  thought  he  could  not  i)reach  it,  and  I  put  him  off 
bv  saying  it  was  undecided  when  I  should  go  back.  After  I 
arrived  at  Chicago  I  received  a  letter  from  him  saying  he  had 
just  arrived  at  New  York,  and  he  would  like  to  come  and 
preach  for  me.  I  wrote  him  a  cold  Utter,  asking  him  to  call 
on  me  if  he  ever  came  West.  A  few  days  after,  I  received  a 
letter  stating  that  he  would  be  in  Chicago  on  the  next  Thurs- 
dav.     T  didn't  know  what  to  do  with  him.     I  said  to  the  ofifi- 


SEVKN    SERMDNS    FROM    ONE    TEXT.  25 1 

ccrs  of  the  church:  "  There  is  a  man  coming  from  England, 
and  he  wants  to  preach  for  mc.  I  am  going  to  be  absent  on 
Thursday  and  Friday.  If  you  will  let  him  preach  on  those  days 
I  will  be  back  on  Saturday  and  take  him  ofif  your  hands." 

On  my  return  on  Saturday  I  was  anxious  to  hear  how  the 
people  liked  him,  and  I  asked  my  wife  how  that  young  Eng- 
lishman got  along.  She  said,  "  They  liked  him  very  much. 
He  preaches  a  little  different  from  what  you  do.  He_tells_sin- 
nersJJiat_God_loves  then^^'^  I  said  he  was  wrong.  I  thought 
I  could  never  like  a  man  who  preached  contrary  to  what  I  was 
preaching.  On  Saturday-  night  I  went  down  to  hear  him,  but 
I  had  made  up  my  mind  not  to  like  him.  He  announced  his 
text,  —  and  I  saw  that  everybody  had  brought  their  Bibles 
with  them.  "  Now,"  he  said,  "  if  you  will  turn  to  the  third 
chapter  of  John  and  the  sixteenth  verse,  you  will  find  my  text." 
He  preached  a  wonderful  sermon  from  the  text,  ''  For  God 
so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  ever- 
lasting life."  My  wife  had  told  me  he  had  preached  the  two 
previous  sermons  from  the  same  text,  and  I  noticed  the  audi- 
ence smiled  when  he  read  it.  Instead  of  preaching  that  God 
was  behind  them  with  a  double-edged  sword  ready  to  hew 
them  down,  he  told  them  how  God  wanted  every  sinner  to  be 
saved,  and  how  He  loved  them.  I  could  not  keep  back  my 
tears.  It  was  wonderful  how  he  brought  out  Scripture.  He 
went  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  and  preached  that  in  all  ages 
God  loved  the  sinner. 

On  Sunday  night  a  great  crowd  came  to  hear  him.  He 
preached  his  fourth  sermon  from  that  wonderful  text.  "  For 
God  so  loved  the  world,"  etc.,  and  he  went  from  Genesis  to 
Revelation  to  show  that  it  was  love,  love,  L0\'E  that  brought 
Christ  from  Heaven,  that  made  Him  step  from  the  throne  to 
lift  up  this  poor,  fallen  world.  He  struck  a  higher  chord  that 
night,  and  it  was  glorious. 

The  next  night  there  was  an  inmiense  crowd  present,  and 
he  said:  "Turn  to  the  third  chapter  and  sixteenth  verse  of 
16 


2C2 


THE    GLORIOUS    GOSPEL    OK    LOVE. 


John;  "  and  he  preached  his  fifth  sermon  from  that  text.  He 
did  not  divide  the  text  up  into  firstly,  secondly,  and  thirdly, 
but  he  preached  from  it  as  a  whole.  The  whole  church  was 
on  fire  with  enthusiasm  before  the  week  was  over. 

Tuesday  night  came,  and  there  was  a  greater  crowd  pres- 
ent than  ever.  The  preacher  said:  "  Turn  to  the  third  chap- 
ter of  John  and  the  sixteenth  verse  and  you  will  find  my  text." 
They  thought  that  sermon  was  better  than  any  of  the  rest.  It 
seemed  as  if  every  heart  was  on  fire,  and  sinners  came  pressing 
into  the  kingdom  of  God.  On  XWxInesday  night  people 
thought  that  probably  he  would  change  his  text,  and  there  was 
great  excitement  to  hear  what  he  was  going  to  say.  He  stood 
before  us  again  and  said:  "  My  friends,  I  have  been  trying  to 
get  a  new  text,  but  T  cannot  find  any  as  good  as  the  old  one, 
so  we  will  again  turn  to  the  third  chapter  of  John  and  the  six- 
teenth verse."  He  preached  his  seventh  sermon  from  that 
wonderful  text. 

I  have  never  forgotten  those  nights.  T  have  preached  a 
different  gospel  since,  and  I  have  had  more  power  with  God 
and  man  since  then.  In  closing  up  that  seventh  sermon  he 
said:  "  For  seven  nights  I  have  been  trying  to  tell  you  how 
much  (jod  loved  you,  but  this  poor  stanmiering  tongue  of 
mine  will  not  let  me.  If  I  could  ascend  Jacob's  ladder  and 
ask  Gabriel,  who  stands  in  the  i)resence  of  the  Almighty,  to  tell 
me  how  nmch  love  God  the  father  has  for  this  poor  lost  world, 
all  that  Gabriel  could  say  would  be,  '  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  He  gave  1  lis  ()nl\-  begotlen  .Son,  iliat  whosoever  be- 
lievcth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'  " 

He  went  to  Europe  and  returned  again.  In  the  meantinu- 
our  church  had  ])een  burned,  and  a  temporary  ])uil(ling  liad 
been  erected.  When  he  returned  he  preached  in  this  building, 
and  said:  "Although  the  old  building  is  biuMit  up.  the  old 
text  is  not  burnt  up,  and  we  will  preach  from  tliat."  .So  he 
preached  from  where  he  had  left  off  before,  about  the  love 
of  God. 
y/    The  deepest,  strongest  human  tie  is  a  mother's  love   for 


TRUE    MOTHER    LOVE.  353 

her  child.     It  is  possible  to  separate  a  man  from  his  wife,  or 
a  father  from  his  son,  and  there  may  be  in  the  wide  world 
something  that  will  separate  a  mother  from  her  own  child. 
There  are  drunken  mothers  who  turn  against  their  own  off- 
spring; mothers  so  steeped  in  sin  that  they  abuse  or  forsake 
their  own  children :  but  a  true  mother  will  never  giye_up  her_^ 
^chiUl^    And  so  the   Bible  says,   "Can  a  mother  forget  hsv_ 
child?"     She  may.     But  God  says  "  Yet_jwilLI  not  forget  _ 
Tliee."     God's    love    is    higher,    deeper,    and    broader   than    a 
mother's  love.     Xr^oye  always  descends.    ^Ajiiother  loves  more_ 
than  the  child_can  love  the  mother.     I  used  to  tell  my  mother 
when  I  climbed  up  on  her  knee,  "  I  love  }'ou  more  than  you 
do  me."     Mother  would  say,  "  It  is  impossible,"  and  I  doubted 
her.     But  when  I  became  a  father,  and  my  boy  said  the  same 
to  me  I  realized  what  my  mother  felt,  and  I,  too,  said,  "  It  is 
impossible." 

Dr.  Gqodell  once  told  me  of  a  l)oy  who  used  to  go  to  school 
with  him.  His  father  was  a  very  bad  man,  and  seemed  to 
take  delight  in  teaching  the  boy  every  kind  of  vice  and  sin, 
until  he  became  so  bad  that  the  Goodell  boys  were  forbidden 
to  play  with  him.  It  was  not  long  before  the  boy's  father 
died,  and  the  lad  went  from  bad  to  worse,  until,  at  last,  he  was 
arrested  for  murder.  He  turned  out  to  be  the  worst  criminal 
that  \'ermont  ever  had.  He  had  killed  five  persons.  When 
he  was  on  trial  for  his  life  his  mother  was  in  the  court 
room,  and  she  took  in  every  word  that  was  said  against  her 
son,  and  it  seemed  to  hurt  her  far  more  than  it  did  him.  And 
men  wondered  how  she  could  love  such  a  demon.  She  could 
not  help  it.  _God  planted  the  mother-love  in  her  heart.  When 
the  verdict  of  "  Guilty  "  was  brought  in  it  seemed  as  if  she 
would  faint  away;  and  when  the  judge  pronounced  the  sen- 
tence of  death  she  was  frantic  with  grief.  She  seemed  to  feel 
it  far  more  than  her  boy.  When  the  sheriff  put  him  in  a  cold, 
damp  cell  the  mother  put  her  arms  around  him  and  they  had 
to  take  the  boy  from  her  by  force.  She  traveled  the  length  and 
breadth  of  Vermont  trying  to  get  influential  men  to  sign  a 


^54 


L()\K     FOR     rill".    UNWOR  TIIV 


petition  for  liis  reprieve.  The  day  before  the  execution  she 
saw  liim  for  the  last  time,  'i'he  supreme  moment  at  leno;tli 
arrived,  and  when  the  boy  was  hang-ed  she  begged  for  tlie 
body  that  she  might  ])ut  it  in  the  old  burial  ])lot.  where  she 
could  plant  flowers  upon  the  grave  and  water  them  with  her 
tears.  The  Governor  said  "  No."  The  law  of  the  vStatc  re- 
(luired  the  box's  body  to  ])e  buried  in  the  ])rison  \ard.  And 
the  mother,  when  dying,  begged  that  her  body  might  be  buried 
close  by  that  of  her  wayward  son.  It  was  the  only  thing  in 
the  universe  that  slie  loved,  and  she  thought  she  had  a  right 
to  be  laid  beside  it.  It  was  a  mother's  love  that  made  her 
Nyijjing  to  have  her  grave  pointed  out  for  all  time  as  that  of 
the__niother  of  a  noted  criminal.  They  say  that  death  has 
burned  out  everything  in  this  world.  It  seldom  conquers  a 
mother's  love,  f^d  savj^  "  I  can  never  forget  thee."  God's 
love  is  tenderer  and  broader  than  man's.  It  never,  never  fails. 
A  gentleman  once  attended  a  great  dinner  party,  and  he 
was  impressed  by  the  graceful  manner  in  w  hich  the  lady  of  the 
house  presided  over  the  gathering.  ITe  discovered  after 
leaving  the  house  that  he  had  left  something  in  the  dining- 
room,  so  he  went  back  to  get  it,  and  he  fotind  the  hostess 
seated  at  the  table  with  a  }-oung  man  who  looked  like  a  tramp. 
She  introduced  him  as  her  youngest  son,  and  said,  "  He  has_ 
gone  far  astray,  but  I  love  him  still."  Of  course  she  did. 
That's  what  is  going  to  bring  this  old  world  l)ack,  —  this  old 
thought  that  "  God  is  Love,"  with_an  unchangeable,  unfailing- 
love.  _  Here  was  a  boy  who  had  a  loving  mother,  who  was  as 
fair  and  lovely  as  any  being  on  earth,  and  he  turned  his  back 
on  her,  got  drunk,  and  descended  into  the  deepest  kind  of  sin. 
He  received  no  benefit  from  that  mother's  love,  but  the  love 
wasjhere  all  the  same.  The  sun  shines  on  the  just  and  the  un- 
just alike,  but  you  can  go  into  a  dark  cellar  and  shut  out  the 
light.  You  can  spurn  the  love  of  God;  you  can  despise  it;  you 
can  make  light  of  it;  but  I  hope  the  Holy  Ghost  will  l)urn  this 
truth  down  into  your  heart,  that  God  loves  you,  —  loYCS-yoti-ux- 
spite  of  your  meanness  and  sins,  —  the_whoIe  crowd  of  us. 


TMK    MKANING    OF    THK  CROSS.  255 

I  know  of  iiotliiiii;-  that  Ijriiigs  out  the  love  of  God  l)ctter 
than  the  Bible.  AX'hen  Paris  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Com- 
mune they  took  some  of  the  leading  citizens  and  put  them 
to  death.  Among  others  they  imprisoned  the  Archbishop  of 
Paris.  There  was  a  litllc  window  in  the  shape  of  a  cross  in 
the  door  of  the  cell,  and  when  they  dragged  him  out  to  die  they 
found  he  had  written  over  the  ends  of  the  cross  thus: 


t 


DEPTH 

That  cross  tells  us  of  God's  love.     Height:     it  reaches  to 


the  very  throne  of  Heaven.  Depthj  it  reaches  to  the  bottom 
of_a  lost  world.  Lengtli^aiid  Breadth:  it  reaches  to  the  very 
corners  of  the  earth.  It  is  not  our  good  deeds,  our  tears,  our 
prayers;  it  is  the  finished  work  of  Jesus  Christ  thatsaves  us, 
because  He  died  and  gave  Himself  for  us.  I  do  not  believe 
any  one  can  get  a  true  glimpse  of  Jesus  Christ  without  loving 
Him. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  man  who  went  to  California  when  the 
gold  excitement  broke  out,  and  left  his  wife  and  little  boy  in 
New  England.  He  said  as  soon  as  he  was  successful  he  would 
send  for  them.  It  was  a  long  time  before  he  was  successful; 
but  at  last  he  sent  the  money,  and  his  wife  and  child  went  to 
New  York  and  sailed  on  a  steamer  for  San  Francisco.  Every- 
thing was  going  well,  when  all  at  once  the_dreadfur  cry  was 
hearcl  "  Fire,  firer^__The  fire  swiftly  spread  Ihrough^^e" 
vessel;  tliepumps  were  set  at  work;  but  they  could  not  put  it 
out.  The  flames  gained  on  them,  and  the  captain  ordered  the 
lifeboats  launched.  But  there  were  not  lifeboats  enough  to 
take  all  the  passengers,  and  among_thoseleft  on  deck  was  the 
motli£r-_ajid  her  bov.  The  last  boat  was  pushing  away.  If 
she  did  not  get  into  that  boat  she  must  perish.  She  begged  of 
the  men  to  take  her  and  her  boy;  but  thev  said,  "  We  dare  not 


/' 


2^6  DYING    TO    SAVE    HKR    CHILI). 

take  any  more."  Her  tears  and  entreaties  touched  the  heart 
uf  one  of  the  men  and  he  said,  "  Let  us  take  her;  "  but  the 
others  would   not.     Finally   they   said   "  We  will   take  one." 

What  did  the  mother  do? Did  she  leap  into  that  lifeboat  and 

leave  her  boy  behind  to  perish?     That  is  not  a  mother's  love^ 
She  kissed  him,  dropped  him  over  into  the  lifeboat,  and  said: 
If  you  H\:e_to  secjyoiu:. falliex,  tell  him  I^diedio  save  yoiC 

Suppose,  when  that  youn_c;  boy  crrew  to  be  a  man,  he  should 
speak  contemptuously  of  such  a  luother.  would  you  not  say, 
"He  is  an  ungrateful  wretch?"  But,  sinner,  what  are  you 
.^oing_\yith  Jesus^  Did  he  not  do  more  than  that?  Was  He 
not  numbered  among  the  transgressors  for  us?  Was  He  not 
wounded  for  our  transgressions,  and  bruised  for  our  iniquities? 
Did  He  not  die  for  us? 

I  heard  of  a  minister  living  near  Chicago  whose  son  went 
to  the  city  to  sell  his  father's  grain.  The  boy  arrived  in 
Chicago  and  sold  the  grain;  but  when  it  was  time  for  him 
to  arrive  home  he  did  not  come.  The  father  and  mother 
sat  up  all  night  expecting  to  hear  the  sound  of  the  return- 
ing wagon  every  minute,  l)ut  they  waited  and  waited,  and 
.still  he  did  not  come.  The  father  became  so  uneasy  that 
he  went  into  the  stable,  saddled  his  horse,  and  rode  to 
Chicago.  When  he  reached  there  he  found  tliat  his  son 
had  sold  the  grain  l)ut  had  not  been  seen  since.  After 
making  investigation  he  found  that  the  boy  had  gone  into  a 
gambling  house  and  lost  all  his  money.  After  the  gamblers 
had  taken  his  ready  money  the}-  advised  him  to  sell  his  horse 
and  wagon,  and  with  the  money  thus  obtained  he  could  play 
again  and  make  up  his  loss.  He  lost  all  and  disappeared.  A 
great  many  think  as  this  young  man  thought,  that  rumsellers 
and_gamblers  arc  their  best  friends,  when  they  are  all  the  time 
taking  from  them  their  peace,  their  health,  their  money,  their 


soul  — ^erything  they  have,  and  are  then  ready  to  forsake 

After  looking  fruitlessly  for  his  son.  the  father  returned 
home  and  told  his  wife  what  had  happened.     P.iit  lie  did  not 


A    FATHER'S    DEVOTION.  25/ 

give  him  up.  He  went  from  place  to  place,  asking  ministers 
to  let  him  preach  for  them,  and  he  always  told  the  congrega- 
tion that  he  had  a  missing  son  dearer  to  him  than  life,  and  he 
urged  them  if  ever  they  heard  anything  about  him  to  let  him 
know. 

At  last  he  learned  that  he  had  gone  to  California.  He 
arranged  his  business  affairs  and  started  for  the  Pacific  coast 
to  find  him.  When  he  arrived  in  San  Francisco  he  began  to 
preach,  and  he  had  notices  put  in  the  papers,  hoping  that  they 
might  reach  the  mining  districts,  trusting  that  if  his  son  were 
there  he  might  sec  him.  One  Sunday,  after  preaching  a  ser- 
mon, he  pronounced  the  benediction,  and  the  audience  went 
away.  Rut  he  noticed  in  a  corner  one  who  remained.  He 
\\xnt  up  to  him  and  found  his  missing  son.  He  did  not  repri- 
mand  him,  he  did  not  pronounce  judgment. upon  him,  but  he 
put  his  loving  arms  around  him,  drew  him  to  his  bosom,  and 
took  him  back  home.  This  is  but  an  illustration  of  what  God 
has  been  domg  for  you.  There  has  not  been  a  day,  an  hour, 
a  moment,  that  He  has  not  been  searching  for  you.  He  offers 
us  His  love  and  His  forgiveness. 

Dr.  Arnot  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  Scotch  divines.  His 
mother  died  when  he  was  only  three  weeks  old,  and  there  was 
a  large  famdy  of  them.  The  Arnot  children  got  the  impres- 
sion that  their  father  was  very  stern  and  rigid  and  that  he  had 
a  great  many  hard  laws  and  rules.  I  suppose  they  missed  the 
tender  care  and  love  of  the  mother.  One  rule  was  that  the 
children  should  never  climb  trees ;  and  when  the  neiglibors" 
boys  learned  this  they  began  to  tell  them  about  the  w^ondcrful 
things  that  could  be  seen  from  the  tops  of  the  trees.  Well, 
now,  ^•ou  tell  a  boy  of  twelve  that  he  musn't  climl)  a  tree  and 
he  will  get  up  that  tree  some  way.  And  so  the  .\rnot  children 
were  all  the  time  teasing  their  father  to  let  them  climb  a  tree ; 
but  he  always  said  :     "  No."' 

One  day  he  was  busy  reading,  and  the  children  said: 

"  Father  is  reading.  Let's  slip  down  into  the  lot  and  climb 
a  tree." 


258  A    FEATHER'S    WISDOM    AND    LOVE. 

One  of  the  little  fellows  watched  to  see  that  the  father  did 
not  catch  them.  When  his  brother  got  up  on  the  first  branch, 
the  little  fellow  on  the  ground  said: 

"  What  do  you  see?  " 

"  Why,  I  don't  see  anything." 

"  Then  go  higher,  you  haven't  got  high  enough." 

So  he  went  up  higher,  and  again  the  little  boy  said: 

"  Well,  now  what  do  you  see?  " 

"  I  don't  see  anything." 

"  You  aren't  high  enough,  go  higher."  And  the  little 
fellow  went  up  as  high  as  he  could  go,  and  down  he  fell  and 
broke  his  leg. 

Willie  said  he  tried  to  get  him  into  the  house  but  he 
couldn't  do  it.  He  was  scared  nearly  out  of  his  wits.  He 
thought  his  father  would  be  very  angry.  But  he  ran  into  the 
house  and  told  him,  and  his  father  started  for  the  lot.  When 
he  got  there  he  picked  the  boy  up  in  his  arms  and  brought 
him  up  to  the  house.  Then  he  sent  for  the  doctor.  Willie 
got  a  new  view  of  his  father.  He  found  out  the  reason  why 
he  was  so  stern.  He  said  the  moment  that  boy  got  hurt  no 
mother  could  have  been  more  loving  and  gentle. 

Aly  dear  friends,  there  is  not  one  commandment  that  has 
been  eiven  us  which  has  not  been  for  01. r  highest  and  best 


good,  ihere  isn't  a  conmiandment  that  hasn't  come  from 
the  loving  heart  of  God.  and  what  He  wants  is  to  have  us  give 
up  that  which  is  going  to  mar  our  hap])incss  in  tliis  life  and  in 
the  life  to  come. 

An  Englishman  told  me  a  story  once  that  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  truth  tliat  God  loves  men  in  their  sin.  He  does 
not  love  sin,  but  He  loves  men  even  in  their  sin.   .  A  great 


many  years  ago  a  little  boy  was  stolen  in  London.  Long 
months  and  years  passed  away,  and  the  mother  had  prayed 
and  prayed,  and  all  lur  efforts  to  find  him  liad  failed;  but  slie 
did  not  quite  give  up  hope.  One  day  a  boy  was  sent  to  sweep 
the  chimney,  and  by  some  mistake  he  came  down  by  a  different 
chimney  and  landed  in  the  sitting-room.     He  thought  things 


THE    LESSON    OF  THE    VAXE. 


259 


looked  strangely  familiar.  His  memory  began  to  travel  back 
through  the  years  that  had  passed.  The  scenes  of  earlier  days 
were  dawning  upon  him,  and  as  he  stood  surveying  the  place 
his  mother  came  into  the  room.  He  was  clothed  with  rags 
and  covered  with  soot.  But  the  mother  recognized  her  own. 
It  was  her  boy.  Did_shc  wait  until  she  sent  him  to  be  washed 
before  she  took  him  in  her  arms_?  No,  indeed:  she  took  him 
J4ist  as  h e  was,  all  black  and  grimy,  and  hugged  him  to  her 
bosom,  and  shed  tears  of  joy  over  him^  If  you  have  wandered 
far  from  Him;  if  there  is  not  a  sound  spot  on  you,  if  you  wilL 
just  come  to  God  He  will  forgive  all  and  receive  you . 

One  day  Mr.  Spurgeon  went  into  the  country  to  spend  a 
little  time  with  a  friend.  This  friend  had  a  weather-vane  on 
his  barn  and  on  the  weather-vane  were  the  words  "  God  is 
Love."  " 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that?  "  said  Mr.  Spurgeon.  "  Do 
you  mean  that  God's  love  is  as  changeable  as  the  wind?  " 

"  No,"  said  his  friend,  '^I  believe  that  God  is  love  which;:^' 
ever  way  the  wind  blows." 

Now,  it  is  pretty  hard  to  make  saint  or  sinner  believe  that. 
When  things  are  running  smoothly  we  believe  that  God  is 
love,  but  when  things  go  wTong  we  think  God  does  not  love 
us,  and  when  things  are  unfortunate  and  seem  to  be  against 
us,  then  it  is  that  we  think  that  Christ  has  forgotten  us.  Now, 
if  I  could  just  get  you  to  believe  that  God  loves  you  in  spite 
of  your  failings,  in  spite  of  your  sins,  your  backslidings.  and 
your  lukewarmness,  I  tell  you  it  would  be  a  grand  day  for 
your  souls. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

NOT  ASHAMED  OF  CHRIST.     STANDING  UP  FOR  JESUS. 

Mr.  Moody's  Ride  with  a  Mormon  Engineer  —  A  Man  Who  was  Proud 
of  His  Religion  —  An  Amusing  Story  of  Two  Cowards  —  A 
Policeman  Who  was  Ashamed  of  His  Uniform  —  The  Motto  on 
the  Building  —  A  Confession  of  Cowardice — Story  of  the  Two 
Young  Men  Who  Sneaked  Out  to  Hear  Mr.  IMoody  —  Far-reach- 
ing Results  of  a  vSporting  Man's  Conversion  —  Students  Plan  to 
Rotten  Egg  Mr.  Moody  —  Carrying  a  Sermon  in  His  Pocket- 
book —  Three  Fast  Young  Men  Who  Went  to  Ridicule  ]\Ir. 
Moody  —  A  Noisy  Meeting  —  A  Chinese  Test  of  a  Christian  — 
Speaking  On  a  Dry-goods  Box  —  Story  of  the  Young  Lawyer 
Who  Came  Out  for  Christ  —  How  Judge  McLean  Took  His 
Stand  —  Praying  in  the  Barracks. 

SOME  years  ag-o  I  went  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  when 
within  forty  miles  of  that  place,  the  engineer  of  the 
train  sent  word  that  he  would  like  to  have  me  ride  in 
the  engine  cab  with  him.  He  was  a  Mormon  elder,  and  he 
wanted  to  convert  me  to  Mormonism  before  I  arrived  at  Salt 
Lake  City.  He  wasn't  ashamed  of  his  religion  ;  he  gloried  in 
it.  The  only  religion  that  I  know  of  that  men  are  ashamed  of 
is  the  religion  of  Jestis  Christ.  If  a  man  believes  in  a  false  re- 
ligion he  is  always  proud  of  it.  1  have  never  Umnd  a  Chinaman 
who  wasn't  proud  of  being  a  disciple  of  Confucius.  When  1 
was  in  the  Mohammedan  country  some  time  ago,  I  didn't  find 
a  Mohammedan  who  didnt  feel  proud  tliat  lie  was  a  disciple 
of  Mohammed  ;  but  the  disciples  of  Christ  are  ashamed  of  the 
only  religion  in  the  world  that  gives  a  man  self-control ;  the  only 
one  that  tells  how  men's  sins  may  be  blotted  out;  the  only  one 
that  lifts  him  out  of  the  ])it  and  the  mire. 

A  man  once  said  to  me,  "  How  do  you  account  for  the  fact 

(260) 


THE    WAY    OP'  CALVARY.  26 1 

that  ^lohammcd  lived  six  hundred  years  later  than  Christ,  and 
yet  Mohammed  has  more  disciples  than  Christ?  "'  1  said,  "  It 
is  very  easily  accounted  for.  A  man  can  be  a  disciple  of  Mo- 
hammed and  not  deny  himself,  and  never  bear  a  cross.  He 
can  live  in  the  darkest,  blackest,  vilest  sin,  and  yet  be  a  Mo- 
hanmiedan  ;  but  a  man  cannot  be  a  disciple  of  Christ  without 
den}ing-  himself,  without  giving  up  sin,  and  without  taking 
his  cross  to  follow  Him.''  I  have  often  said  there  would  be  a 
great  stampede  into  the  kingdom  of  God  if  men  could  get  into 
heaven  without  going  by  the  way  of  Calvary.  If  we  could 
only  slip  around  that  hill,  and  get  upon  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration, stepping  over  the  cross,  and  reaching  the  crown, 
there  would  be  a  great  rush  that  way.  But  it  cannot  be  done. 
The  way  to  Heaven  is  straight,  and  in  the  way  there  is  a  cross. 

In  one  of  our  meetings  a  little  tow-headed  "Norwegian  boy 
stood  up.  He  could  hardly  speak  a  word  of  English,  but  he 
got  up  and  came  to  the  front.  He  trembled  and  the  tears 
trickled  down  his  cheeks,  and  he  said :  "  If  I  tell  the  world 
about  Jesus,  He  will  tell  the  Father  about  me."  That  was  all 
he  said,  but  I  tell  you  that  in  those  few  words  he  said  more  than 
all  the  rest  of  them,  old  and  young,  together.  They  went 
straight  down  into  the  heart  of  every  one  present.  "  If  I  tell 
the  world  "'  — •  yes,  that's  what  it  means,  to  confess  Christ. 

When  a  man  dies  we  ought  not  to  be  compelled  to  go  to  his 
native  town  and  hunt  up  some  old,  musty  church  record,  in 
order  to  know  whether  he  was  a  Christian.  The  Gospel  does 
not  mean  that  you  are  to  join  some  church  and  confess  Him 
once  publicly,  and  let  that  be  the  end  of  it,  but  you  are  to  "  take 
up  your  cross  daily  and  follow  Him." 

Are  there  not  hundreds  who  are  really  ashamed  of  Christ  ? 
I  heard  a  story  about  two  young  men  who  came  to  the  city  from 
the  country  on  a  visit.  They  went  to  the  same  boarding-house 
and  took  a  room  together.  \\'hen  they  were  ready  to  go  to 
bed  each  felt  ashamed  to  get  down  on  his  knees  before  the 
other.  So  they  sat  watching  each  other.  In  fact,  to  express 
the   situation   in   one   word,   thev  both   were   cowards  —  ves. 


262  MORAL  COURAGE  REQUIRED. 

cowards !  At  last  one  of  thcni  mustered  up  a  little  courage, 
and  with  burning  cheeks,  as  if  he  was  about  to  do  something 
wicked,  he  knelt  down  to  say  his  prayers.  As  soon  as  his  com- 
panion saw  that  he  also  knelt.  After  they  had  said  their 
prayers  one  said  to  the  other : 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  knelt ;  I  was  afraid  of  you." 

"  Well,"  said  the  other,  "  I  was  afraid  of  you,  too." 

So  it  turned  out  that  both  were  Christians,  and  yet  they 
were  afraid  of  each  other.  You  smile  at  that,  but  how  many 
times  have  you  done  the  same  thing  —  perhaps  not  in  that 
way.  but  the  same  thing  in  cfTect. 

What  would  }ou  think  of  a  man  who  wants  to  be  a  police- 
man but  is  unwilling  to  put  on  a  policeman's  uniform.  He 
doesn't  want  any  one  else  to  know  that  he  is  a  policeman.  Do 
you  think  he  would  be  a  very  efficient  policeman  ?  Do  you 
think  that  your  life  and  property  would  be  safe  with  an  of^ccr 
like  him  ?  What  would  you  think  of  a  man  who  wants  to  fight 
for  his  country,  who  says,  "  I  am  just  full  of  patriotism,  but  I 
don't  want  to  put  on  a  soldier's  uniform,  or  have  any  one  know 
that  I  am  a  soldier."  What  would  you  do  with  an  army  of 
such  men?  Why.  a  little  band  of  five  hundred  men  whose 
hearts  were  truly  patriotic,  and  w^ho  lived  for  their  country, 
would  rout  an  army  of  five  hundred  thousand  of  such  cowards. 

It  takes  a  hero  to  be  a  Christian.  Mark  that.  It  takes 
moral  courage  to  come  out  and  confess  Christ,  and  the  lack  of 
it  keeps  more  people  out  of  the  kingdom  of  God  than  any- 
thing else. 

Now,  some  may  say,  "  Really,  if  I  should  confess  Christ, 
what  would  they  say  down  at  the  factory  where  I  work  ?  " 

"  Aha!  Up  to  hear  Moody  last  night,  were  you?" 
"Did  Moody  catch  you?"  "Did  you  get  converted?" 
"Did  you  get  religion?"  And  }ou  sneak  off  like  a  hound, 
and  say,  "  No,  sir.  I  don't  believe  in  Moody.  I  never  went 
to  hear  him."  That  is  what  you  would  do.  I  pity  the  man 
who  will  be  laughed  out  of  i)rincii)le.  Is  it  right  to  serve  God  ? 
If  it  is.  serve  Him.     Take  vour  stand,  and  STAND.     Confess 


TAKE    A    BOLD    STAND.  263 

liini,  and  the  whole  thing  is  settled.  Then  it  is  that  eternal  life 
begins.  Then  it  is  that  you  become  a  child  of  God  and  an  heir 
of  Heaven. 

Thousands  have  gone  down  to  the  caverns  of  death  for 
want  of  this  courage.  My  friends,  let  us  look  this  great  ques- 
tion in  the  face.  If  there  is  anything  at  all  in  the  religion  of 
Christ,  give  everything  for  it.  If  there  is  nothing  in  it  —  if  it 
is  a  myth,  if  our  mothers  who  have  prayed  over  us  have  been 
deceived,  if  the  praying  people  of  the  last  1900  years  have  been 
deluded,  let  us  find  it  out.  The  sooner  the  better.  If  there 
is  nothing  in  the  religion  of  Christ  let  us  abandon  it,  and  eat, 
drink,  and  be  merry,  for  time  will  soon  be  gone.  If  there  is 
no  devil  to  deceive  us,  no  hell  to  receive  us ;  if  Christianity  is  a 
sham,  let  us  come  out  like  men  and  say  so.  I  hope  to  live  to 
see  the  time  when  there  will  only  be  two  classes  in  this  world 
— ■  those  who  take  their  stand  bravely  for  Chirst,  and  those  who 
take  their  stand  against  Him.  This  idea  of  men  standing  still 
and  saying,  "  Well.  I  don't  know,  but  I  think  there  may  be 
something  in  it,"  is  absurd.  If  there  is  anything  it  it  there  is 
everything  in  it.  If  the  Bible  of  our  mothers  is  not  true  let 
us  burn  it.  If  it  is  false,  why  spend  so  much  money  in  publish- 
ing it?  Why  send  out  millions  of  Bibles  to  the  nations  of  the 
earth  ?  Let  us  destroy  it  if  it  be  false,  and  all  those  institutions 
that  give  the  Gospel  to  the  world.  What  is  the  use  of  all  this 
waste  of  money  ?  Are  we  mad  ?  Are  we  lunatics  ?  Have  we 
been  deluded?  If  so.  let  us  burn  the  Bible  and  shout  over  its 
ashes  :  "  There  is  no  God  ;  there  is  no  hell ;  there  is  no  Heaven  ; 
there  is  no  hereafter.  When  men  die,  they  die  like  dogs  in  the 
street."  But,  my  friends,  if  it  is  true  —  if  there  is  a  Heaven,  a 
hereafter,  if  the  Bible  is  true  —  let  us  come  out  boldly,  like 
men,  for  Christ.  Let  us  take  our  stand,  and  not  be  ashamed 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

There  is  v.n  old  stone  building  that  belongs  to  the  Univer- 
sity of  Aberdeen,  and  upon  it  is  inscribed  a  motto  that  has  been 
there  for  many  years.  I  wanted  to  see  it  with  my  own  eyes, 
and  I  went  up  to  look  at  it.     It  is  this :     "  They  say.     What 


i64 


A    GOOD    iMOTTC). 


do  they  say?     Let  tJietn  say."     That's  a  pretty  good  motto_{or_ 
a  man  who  wants  to  be  a  Christian,  isn't  it?     I  took  that  for 
my  motto.     It  is  of  very  Httlc  account  what  man  thinks  of  me, 
but  I  tell  you  it  is  very  important  what  God  thinks  of  me. 

A  man  once  said  to  me,  "  I  can't  let  anybody  know."  T 
said,  "  You  will  never  get  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  then." 
He  tried  otherwise,  hut  he  could  not  get  in  until  he  came  by 
the  regular  wa}-.  If  there  were  a  back  door  to  heaven,  there 
would  be  a  big  rush  that  way,  and  people  would  sneak  in  and 
sit  down  as  if  they  had  always  been  there.  You  are  not  fit  to 
be  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  if  you  are  ashamed  of  Him. 

When  I  was  preaching  in  New  York  there  came  into  the 
inquiry-room  a  great  strong  man,  six  feet  tall,  who  wanted  to 
become  a  Christian.  He  seemed  very  nnich  moved.  I  think 
I  spent  an  hour  with  him.  The  next  night  I  had  another  long 
talk  with  him.  T  could  ])ring  him  to  a  certain  point,  but  could 
not  bring  him  to  the  Cross.  Finally,  I  said  to  a  prominent 
layman  : 

"  I  wish  you  would  win  that  man's  confidence,  and  see  what 
it  is  that  is  keeping  him  from  Christ." 

He  had  two  or  three  interviews  with  him  and  gave  it  up. 
But  one  night,  at  the  young  converts'  meeting,  he  rose  and 
confessed  that  he  had  found  Christ.     I  said : 

"  What  was  the  obstacle  that  kept  you  from  Him  so  long?  " 

He  colored  up  clear  to  the  roots  of  his  liair.  He  seemed 
very  much  embarrassed,  and  finally  said  that  the  first  night  I 
talked  with  him  the  thought  came  to  his  mind.  "  If  I  become 
a  Christian  I've  got  to  get  a  liible  and  read  before  my  room- 
mate, and  he  will  laugh  at  me."  He  tried  every  way  he  could 
to  get  into  the  kingdom  of  God  and  not  let  his  roommate  know 
it.  Night  after  night  the  cross  came  up:  "  I've  got  to  get  a 
Bible  and  read  before  my  roommate."  And  he  thought  lie 
never  could  do  it.  lUit  one  night  the  burden  became  so  great 
that  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  go  home  and  read  the 
Bible  and  let  his  roommate  laugh.  So  he  went  to  his  room, 
and  was  very  glad  to  find  that  his  roommate  wasn't  there.     He 


THE    FEAR    OK    RIDICULE.  265 

got  the  Bible  out,  and  had  read  but  three  or  four  verses  when 
he  heard  his  roommate's  step  on  the  stairs.  His  first  impulse 
was  to  slip  the  Bible  into  his  trunk,  and  appear  as  though  he 
was  getting  ready  to  retire.  The  second  thought  was,  "  Now 
is  the  time  to  let  him  know."  So  he  sat  there,  reading.  His 
roommate  came  in,  looked,  and  said : 

"  A^re  you  interested  in  the  Bible?  " 

"  I  am."  It  is  a  good  thing  to  get  your  hps  open,  and  to 
say  as  much  as  that. 

"  How  long  has  this  been  going  on?  " 

"  Well,  I  went  to  hear  ^Nloody,  and  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
become  a  Christian  ;  but  I  have  been  too  much  of  a  coward  to 
read  and  pray  before  you,  because  I  thought  you  would  laugh 
at  me.  I  have  been  greatly  troubled ;  but  I  made  up  my  mind 
to-night  I  would  read  my  Bible  and  pray,  and  let  you  laugh 
all  you  wanted  to." 

"  Well,  now,"  said  his  roommate,  "  that  is  rather  singular. 
I  have  been  attending  those  meetings  myself.  I  was  converted 
by  the  same  sermon  you  say  affected  you.  and  I  have  been  try- 
ing ever  since  to  screw  my  courage  up  to  get  my  Bible  out  and 
read  it  before  you," 

And  those  two  "cowards  had  been  sneaking  out,  unknown 
to  each  other,  and  going  to  the  same  meetings,  and  each  was 
afraid  of  the  other. 

When  I  was  preaching  in  Agricultural  Hall,  in  London, 
some  wealthy  men.  then  recently  returned  from  India,  were 
living  fast  lives  in  that  city,  and  the  subject  of  Moody  and 
Sankey  came  up  at  the  dinner-table,  and  they  called  us 
"mountebanks."  One  of  them,  a  wealthy  sporting  man  who 
had  twenty-nine  horses  in  his  stalls,  said  : 

"  Well,  gentlemen,  I  know  every  one  of  you.  and  there  is 
not  one  of  us  trying  to  do  good  ;  and  I  am  told  these  two  men 
are  trying  to  do  good." 

He  took  his  little  daughter  and  came  to  Agricultural  Hall. 
There  were  twenty  thousand  peoi)le  there.     The  little  girl  said  : 

"  Papa,  I  want  you  to  introduce  me  to  Mr.  Moody."     He 


266  RECORDS    OF    USEFULNESS. 

did  SO.  Then  she  wanted  nie  to  speak  to  her  father.  So  I  got  an 
opportunity  to  talk  with  him.     After  he  had  gone  people  said: 

"  Do  you  know  who  that  man  is?" 

"  No." 

"  He  is  the  leader  of  the  sporting  men  of  London,  antl  has 
won  many  a  Derby." 

That  man  was  converted.  I  lis  son  was  at  Eton,  and  he  per- 
suaded me  to  go  down  there.  The  students  had  planned  to 
throw  rotten  eggs  at  me.     But  he  said  : 

"  If  any  rotten  eggs  are  to  be  thrown  at  Air.  Moody,  I  will 
take  my  share,"  and  he  stood  by  my  side. 

Four  of  his  sons  were  converted.  One  of  them  preached 
the  Gospel  in  London,  and  another  preached  it  in  California. 
Look  at  the  far-reaching  results.  I  can't  begin  to  tell  you 
the  hundreds  of  people  converted  before  that  man  went  up  to 
glory.  His  daughter  who  led  him  to  Christ  is  married  to  a 
good  man,  and  her  husband  is  working  for  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  My  friends,  just  think  that  some  man  or  woman  or 
child  may  confess  Jesus  Christ  to-day,  and  twenty  or  thirty 
years  hence  there  will  be  tens  of  thousands  who  have  been 
turned  to  Him  by  that  one  confession. 

I  once  received  a  letter  from  a  man  who  heard  me  preach 
twenty-five  years  before.  He  said  that  a  sermon  on  the  power 
of  Christ  to  save  was  published  in  a  newspaper,  and  he  cut  it 
out  and  saved  it.  It  was  a  blessing  to  his  soul,  and  he  carried 
it  in  his  pocketbook  until  he  wore  it  to  pieces. 

I  have  a  letter  which  reads :  "  The  last  time  I  heard  you 
was  in  Liverpool  over  twenty-five  years  ago.  Three  of  us 
wx>nt  to  hear  you  and  make  sport  and  ridicule.  We  were  fast 
young  men  ;  drunkards  and  debauchees.  At  the  close  of  the 
service  w^e  went  away  to  pray.  That  night  we  shook  hands, 
and  said,  'We  will  bid  farewell  to  sin.'  That  night  we  turned 
from  our  evil  ways.  One  of  tin-  lliree  died  as  a  missionary  on 
the  Congo.  Another  died  serving  the  Lord  in  Egypt.  The 
two  are  in  glory.  I  have  three  sons,  and  they  are  on  the  Lord's 
side.     It  is  a  great  thing  to  stand  up  for  Christ." 


A    WOMAN'S    DECISION.  267 

A  lady  who  had  never  been  to  any  other  than  a  Quaker 
meeting  lost  her  child  by  death,  and  she  said,  "  I  will  go  to 
Moody's  meeting,  and  perhaps  I  can  get  a  little  comfort." 
God  blessed  her.  She  had  a  nephew  and  a  brother  who  were 
going  down  through  strong  drink.  She  went  home  and  said 
to  her  family,  "  I  want  you  to  go  with  me  and  hear  that  Amer- 
ican." The  meeting  was  held  in  the  Free  Methodist  Church. 
That  night  there  was  a  noisy  time,  and  the  Quakers  were 
shocked,  and  on  the  way  home  she  heard  her  nephew  and  her 
brother  making  sport  of  what  had  been  said  on  the  subject  of 
the  New  Birth.  As  she  went  into  the  house  the  thought  oc- 
curred to  her,  "  Now  it  may  be  that  the  eternal  destiny  of  these 
two  men  will  depend  on  my  action  at  supper  to-night ;  "  and 
she  fell  on  her  knees  and  prayed  God  to  help  her.  At  the 
supper-table  they  made  all  manner  of  sport ;  and  she  stood  up 
for  Jesus  Christ,  and  confessed  him.     Then  they  said : 

"  You  don't  believe  what  Moody  said  about  being  born 
again,  do  you?     We  Quakers  have  never  been  taught  that." 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  God  has  blessed  my  soul  to-day,  and  I 
would  not  say  a  word  against  what  can  bless  other  people.  If 
you  can  get  what  I  have  you  will  thank  God  all  your  life." 

The  next  night  the  two  men  intended  to  go  to  the  theater, 
but  through  her  influence  they  went  to  the  meeting  instead,  and 
in  a  little  while  the  nephew,  who  was  working  in  one  of  the 
great  foundries  that  he  might  learn  the  business  in  order  to 
become  proprietor  of  it,  came  with  a  petition  signed  by  eight- 
een thousand  workingmen,  asking  me  to  preach  to  them.  A 
great  and  glorious  work  followed  among  them,  and  all  because 
of  the  stand  that  lady  took  for  Christ.  Stand  for  God,  and 
don't  be  laughed  out  of  it. 

In  some  parts  of  China  the  English  government  has  made 
arrangements  that  a  man  who  has  given  up  his  old  religion  is 
not  obliged  to  pay  taxes  to  the  joss  houses.  When  the  tax- 
collector  comes  around,  if  a  man  says  he  does  not  have  to  pay 
taxes  because  he  is  a  Christian,  the  tax-collector  makes  him 
preach  to  prove  that  he  is  a  Christian.  If  we  were  to  escape 
17 


268  ASHAMED,     BUT    NOT    OF    CHRIST. 

taxes  here  by  preaching,  many  would  preach.  What  we  want 
is  to  testify,  to  be  ready  at  all  times  to  give  our  testimony,  and 
not  be  ashamed  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

A  young  man  was  converted  some  years  ago  who  was  so 
full  of  the  joy  of  believing  that  he  could  not  hold  his  peace. 
He  had  to  speak,  and  so  he  mounted  a  drygoods  box  on  the 
corner  of  the  street  and  told  what  Christ  had  done  for  him.  A 
large  crowd  gathered  around,  and  by  and  by  one  of  these 
modern  free-thinkers  interrupted  him,  and  said : 

•    "  Young  man,  you  ought  to  be  ashamed  to  be  standing 
there  and  talking  such  stuff." 

The  young  man  was  embarrassed,  and  colored  up,  and  said  : 

"  I  am  ashamed  of  myself,  but  I  am  not  ashamed  of  Christ, 
my  Master." 

People  say,  "  I  am  ashamed  to  speak  for  Christ  because  I 
can't  speak  better."  So  am  I.  Many  a  time  I  have  wished  the 
floor  would  open  and  let  me  drop  out  of  sight.  He  is  worthy 
of  a  better  witness  than  I  am.  I  can  honestly  say  that  I  have 
been  ashamed  of  myself  a  good  many  times,  Init  I  do  not  re- 
member that  I  have  ever  been  ashamed  of  my  Lord  and  Master. 

Some  say,  "  If  I  were  a  man  of  wealth  and  culture  and  in- 
fluence I  could  do  so  much  for  Christ."  Cod  can  take  a  tramp 
and  make  him  more  than  a  man  of  wealth  for  Christ.  John 
Bunyan  w-as  worth  more  than  all  the  wealthy  men  of  his  day. 
If  we  had  wanted  some  one  to  write  a  book  worth  more  than 
all  other  books,  except  the  Bible,  we  should  probably  have  gone 
to  Cambridge  or  Oxford ;  but  the  Lord  converted  a  drunken 
tinker  and  he  wrote  "The  Pilgrim's  Progress."  The  Loid 
can  take  an  outcast  and  make  him  shine,  not  only  here,  but  in 
eternity. 

Many  years  ago  a  young  lawyer  went  home  one  day  and 
told  his  wife  that  he  had  become  a  Christian  that  day  in  his 
office.  They  were  going  to  have  company  at  supper  that  night, 
and  he  said  : 

"  After  supper  I  want  the  servants  to  come  into  the  draw- 
ing-room, and  I  am  going  to  read  and  pray." 


THE    FIRST    PRAYER.  269 

Although  his  wife  was  a  professed  Christian,  she  said : 

"  My  dear,  you  know  these  lawyers  who  are  coming  to 
dinner  are  scoffers  and  skeptics,  and  it  will  be  embarrassing  if 
you  should  not  succeed  in  your  first  attempt  to  pray.  Don't 
you  think  you  had  better  put  it  off  until  after  they  are  gone 
and  then  go  into  the  kitchen  and  pray  with  the  servants?  " 

The  young  lawyer  thought  a  little  while,  and  then  said : 

"  Well,  wife,  it  is  the  first  time  I  ever  asked  Jesus  Christ 
into  our  home,  and  I  think  I  will  ask  him  into  the  best  room  in 
the  house." 

After  supper  he  told  the  gentlemen  who  had  assembled  that 
he  had  that  day  accepted  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  would  like  them 
to  remain  while  he  prayed.  They  went  into  the  parlor,  and 
the  young  lawyer  led  in  prayer.  That  was  Judge  McLean, 
one  of  the  ablest  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  who  stood  for  Christ  constantly  for  over  forty  years. 
Wasn't  that  a  grand  confession? 

During  the  Civil  War  a  young  man  who  had  enlisted  was 
assigned  to  the  barracks  with  a  number  of  other  soldiers,  and 
when  night  came,  as  was  his  custom,  he  knelt  down  and 
prayed.  The  rest  were  playing  cards  to  see  who  should  pay 
for  the  drinks.  They  began  to  curse  him,  and  throw  things  at 
him.  The  next  night  it  was  worse ;  they  just  howled.  The 
next  night  it  was  still  worse.     He  saw  the  Chaplain  and  said  : 

"What  shall  I  do?" 

The  Chaplain  said,  "  Well,  those  men  have  just  as  good  a 
right  there  as  you  have.  I  think  you  had  better  give  it  up.  It 
disturbs  them." 

"  W"hy,"  he  said,  "  I  don't  pray  very  loud." 

"  Well,  I  wouldn't  disturb  them.  You  can  get  into  your 
bunk  and  pray  there.  You  can  pray  on  your  back  as  well  as 
on  your  knees ;  and  the  Lord  will  hear  you  just  as  well." 

The  young  soldier  was  disappointed.  It  was  a  long  time 
before  the  Chaplain  got  sight  of  him  again,  for  the  young  man 
avoided  him  after  that.  But  one  day  they  came  suddenly  upon 
each  other,  and  the  Chaplain  said : 


270 


A    SOLDIER'S    COURAGE. 


"  Did  you  take  my  advice  ?  " 

"  Yes,  for  three  niglits." 

"  How  did  it  work?" 

"  Work  ?  —  it  didn't  work  at  all.  I  got  into  my  bunk  like  a 
coward;  my  conscience  wouldn't  let  me  sleep.  So,  finally,  I 
resolved  I  would  pray  before  them  all,  and  I've  done  so  ever 
smce.  \Miat  do  you  think  has  been  the  result?  Three  of  the 
men  have  been  converted  ;  we  have  a  prayer-meeting  every 
night,  and  I  think  we  will  get  the  whole  company." 

That's  what  is  wanted  —  men  of  moral  courage  to  stand  up 
for  the  right. 

If  you  want  the  blessing  of  Heaven,  and  the  peace  that 
passeth  all  understanding,  you  must  be  ready  and  willing  to 
confess  Him.  Let  the  world  know  that  you  believe  Him  and 
arc  not  ashamed  of  Him. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  SOUL'S  GREATEST  NEED  — WHAT  CHRIST  IS  TO  US. 

The  Text  on  the  Window  Pane  —  "  I've  Got  Him,  Thank  God!  " — An 
Incident  in  the  Life  of  Napoleon  —  A  Legacy  of  Five  MilUon 
Dollars  —  Sitting  Quietly  at  the  Feet  of  Jesus  —  A  Touching 
Incident  —  "I  Want  to  be  With  You  "  —  An  Incident  of  the  Civil 
W^ar  —  The  Call  for  Six  Hundred  Thousand  Men  —  "We  Are 
Coming,  Father  Abraham  " —  A  Man  of  One  Idea  —  "  Oh,  Moody 
is  a  Fanatic  "  —  An  Old  Scotchman's  Remark  —  "  That  Man  Saved 
Me  "  —  Anecdote  of  Rowland  Hill  —  Selling  a  W^oman's  Soul  at 
Auction  —  The  Two  Bidders  —  Pursuing  One's  Shadow  —  An 
Incident  of  Mr.  Moody's  Boyhood  —  Chased  by  a  Shadow  — 
Bailing  Out  the  Darkness  —  Mr.  Moody's  Early  Experiences  in 
the  West — Looked  Upon  with  Suspicion  —  Holding  Meetings 
in    Schoolhouses  —  The    Lantern    and    the    Tallow    Dip. 

THE    soul's    greatest    NEED. 

WE  often  hear  people  say,  "  Oh,  he  is  a  very  good  man, 
but  he  lacks  one  thing";  or,  "  She  is  a  very  s^ood 
person,  but  she  lacks  one  thing."  If  that  one  thing  is 
salvation,  they  lack  everything.  You  might  say  all  that  a  dead 
man  lacks  is  life.  Only  one  thing !  A  sick  man  who  is  lying 
on  the  borders  of  the  eternal  world  only  lacks  his  health  to  make 
him  all  right.  That  is  only  one  thing,  but  it  is  everything  to  a 
man  who  is  sick.  Money  is  everything  to  a  man  in  want  —  a 
beggar.  If  a  man  lacks  salvation  he  lacks  everything ;  and  it 
seems  to  me  it  would  be  well  for  us  to  pause  once  in  a  while 
and  ask  ourselves  the  question,  "  Do  we  lack  that  one  thing?  " 
George  Whitefield  was  once  the  guest  of  an  old  general  who 
was  held  in  high  esteem.  He  wanted  to  speak  to  him  about 
his  soul,  but  his  courage  failed  him.  The  general  was  an  old 
man,  but  he  was  one  of  those  who  lack  the  one  thing ;  he  lacked 
Christ  and  His  salvation.  Whitefield  was  to  go  away  early 
in  the  morning,  and  the  word  had  not  been  spoken ;  so  before 

(271) 


2/2 


TO    HAVE    AiND    TO    KNOW. 


he  retired  he  wrote  with  a  diamond  upon  a  pane  of  glass  in  his 
room,  "  One  thing  thou  lackest."  After  W'hitetield  had  gone 
one  of  the  servants  found  that  text  on  the  window  pane,  and 
spoke  to  the  general  about  it,  and  God  used  it  to  bring  the  old 
soldier  to  his  knees,  and  into  the  Kingdom. 

I  was  once  preaching  in  Manchester,  England,  and  in  a 
seat  close  up  to  the  platform  sat  a  man  who  looked  up  at  me 
intently  all  the  time.  I  looked  right  down  on  him  and  said  : 
"  My  friend,  won't  you  take  Christ?"  Said  he,  "  I  have  got 
Him,  thank  God !  "  He  did  not  lack  Him  ;  he  had  got  Him ; 
and  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  one  to  have  salvation  and  to  know 
he  has  it.  Once  when  I  was  at  sea  we  had  been  in  fog  and  storm 
and  darkness  for  a  day  or  two,  and  didn't  know  just  where  we 
were ;  but  the  moment  the  clouds  broke  away  a  little  and  we 
could  get  a  glimpse  of  the  sun  we  took  an  observation  and 
found  out  where  we  were.  I  think  it  would  be  well  for  sinners 
to  take  an  observation  and  find  out  where  they  are. 

Another  thing :  I  don't  believe  we  shall  have  peace,  or  com- 
fort, or  joy,  until  the  question  of  assurance  is  settled.  Some 
people  say,  "  It  is  presumption  for  you  to  say  you  know  you  are 
saved."  I  say  it  is  presumption  for  me  to  say  I  doubt  it  when 
God  has  said  it.  Shall  I  doubt  God's  own  words?  But  you 
say  it  is  too  good  to  be  true.  Then  \ou  must  go  and  settle  that 
with  the  Lord,  not  with  me.  I  take  it  as  I  find  it  in  the  Word 
of  God.  Do  you  think  He  is  going  to  leave  His  children  to  go 
through  life  not  knowing  ^\hether  the\-  are  going  to  glory  or 
perdition?  There  is  no  knowledge  like  that  of  a  man  who 
kiiozvs  he  is  saved,  who  can  look  up  and  see  his  "  title  clear  to 
mansions  in  the  skies." 

It  is  said  of  Napoleon  that  one  day  when  he  was  reviewing 
his  army  his  horse  became  frightened  and  ran  away  at  full 
speed,  and  the  Emperor's  life  was  in  danger.  He  could  not 
get  hold  of  the  rein,  but  a  private  soldier  sprang  out  of  the 
ranks,  and  was  successful  in  getting  hold  of  the  horse's  head 
at  the  peril  of  his  own  life.  The  Emperor  was  pleased.  Touch- 
ing his  hat,  he  said  to  him  : 


TAKE    HIM    AT    HIS    WORD. 


273 


"  I  make  you  Captain  of  my  Guard." 

The  soldier  threw  away  his  gun,  stepped  out  of  the  ranks, 
and  went  up  to  where  the  body-guard  stood.  The  captain  of 
the  guard  ordered  him  back  into  the  ranks,  but  he  said: 

"No!  I  won't  go!" 

"  Why  not  ?  " 

"  Because  I  am  Captain  of  the  Guard." 

"  You,  Captain  of  the  Guard  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"Who  said  so?" 

"  He  said  so,"  pointing  to  the  Emperor. 

That  was  enough.  He  took  the  Emperor  at  his  word.  My 
friends,  if  God  says  anything  let  us  take  Him  at  His  word. 

Christ  is  ours  for  time  and  eternity ;  He  will  never  leave  us. 
It  seems  to  me  that  we  want  this  doctrine  preached  and  taught 
so  that  Christians  will  be  encouraged  to  talk  to  others.  Make 
it  personal.  One  thing  I  know  —  I  cannot  read  other  minds 
and  other  hearts  ;  I  cannot  read  the  Bible  and  lay  hold  of  it  for 
others ;  but  I  can  read  for  myself,  and  take  God  at  His  word. 
The  great  trouble  is,  people  take  everything  in  a  general  way, 
and  do  not  apply  it  to  themselves  personally. 

Suppose  a  man  should  say  to  me,  "  Moody,  a  man  in  Europe 
died  last  week,  and  left  five  million  dollars  to  a  certain  individ- 
ual." "  Well,"  I  say,  "  I  don't  doubt  it ;  it's  rather  a  common 
thing  to  happen,"  and  I  think  nothing  more  about  it.  But  sup- 
pose he  says,  "  He  left  the  money  to  you."  Then  I  pay  atten- 
tion ;  I  say,  "  To  me  ?  "  "  Yes,  he  left  it  all  to  you."  I  become 
suddenly  interested,  and  want  to  know  all  about  it.  So  we  are 
apt  to  think  Christ  died  for  sinners  ;  that  He  died  for  everybody 
in  general,  and  for  nobody  in  particular.  But  when  the  truth 
comes  to  me  personally  that  eternal  life  is  mine,  and  all  the 
glories  of  Heaven  are  mine,  I  begin  to  be  interested. 

The  longer  I  live  and  the  older  I  grow,  the  more  convinced 
I  am  that  there  are  times  when  we  must  sit  quietly  at  the  feet 
of  Jesus,  and  only  let  God  speak  to  our  souls.  Just  keep 
quietly  alone,  and  learn  of  Jesus.     It  is  when  a  man  is  alone 


274  ALONE    WITH    JESUS. 

with  his  wife  that  he  tells  her  the  precious  secrets  of  his  soul. 
It  is  not  when  the  family  are  around  or  when  there  is  company 
near.  So,  when  we  want  to  learn  the  secrets  of  heaven  we 
should  be  alone  with  Jesus,  and  listen,  that  He  may  come  and 
whisper  to  our  souls.  The  richest  hours  I  have  ever  had  with 
God  have  not  been  in  great  assemblies,  but  sitting  alone  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus.  But  in  these  hurrying  days  w^e  cannot  get  time 
to  listen  to  Christ's  whisper.  We  are  so  busy  we  do  not  choose 
that  one  thing  needful.  If  we  did,  we  should  not  talk  so  much 
as  we  should  listen,  and  when  we  did  speak  it  would  be  only 
when  we  had  something  to  say. 

I  was  very  much  touched  one  day,  many  years  ago,  when 
my  little  boy  (my  youngest)  was  quite  small.  I  was  in  my 
study,  and  I  told  my  wife  I  didn't  want  to  be  disturbed.  I  was 
tracing  a  line  of  truth  very  earnestly  through  the  Bible,  when  I 
heard  a  gentle  knock  at  my  door.     I  said : 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  disturbed  now." 

But  the  little  knocking  kept  right  on,  and  so  I  said  : 

"  Come  in." 

Tt  was  my  little  boy.  I  thought  I  would  dispose  of  him,  so 
I  said : 

"  My  son,  what  do  you  want?  " 

He  threw  liis  arms  around  my  neck  and  kissed  me,  and  said  : 

"  I  don't  want  anything,  only  to  be  with  you;  I  love  you." 

I  could  not  send  him  away  then.  I  went  to  the  closet  and 
got  some  toys  and  i)ut  them  on  the  iloor  before  him,  and  I  said 
to  myself,  "  Dear  little  fellow !  He  wants  to  be  with  me."  I 
think  there  are  times  when  the  Lord  wants  us  to  be  with  Him, 
and  not  only  when  we  want  to  ask  Him  for  something.  There 
are  times  when  we  want  to  be  alone  and  let  God  talk  with  us. 

It  is  a  hard  thing  to  serve  the  public;  but  it  is  a  glorious 
thing  to  serve  Christ.  He  is  not  a  hard  master.  He  knows  we 
are  apt  to  make  mistakes,  and  He  is  ready  and  willing  to  for- 
give. If  Christ  is  such  a  glorious  Master  should  we  not  be 
willing  to  sacrifice  ourselves  to  Him  and  give  up  all  and  follow 
Him,  and  turn  our  backs  upon  this  world  and  live  for  Him  ? 


ANSWERING    THE    CALL.  2/5 

When  the  Union  was  in  danger,  how  many  men  laid  down 
their  Uves  and  gave  up  everything  for  their  country !  The 
moment  that  Abraham  Lincohi  called  for  six  hundred  thousand 
men  you  could  hear  the  steady  tramp  of  their  feet  coming  from 
every  direction,  and  the  song  went  up  from  all  quarters,  "  We 
are  coming,  Father  Abraham,  six  hundred  thousand  strong." 
All  Mr.  Lincoln  had  to  do  was  to  call,  and  the  men  came  pour- 
ing in.     Christ  is  calling  for  laborers  now. 

The  cry  is,  "  What  shall  I  do  ?  "  Let  me  say  to  you,  find 
some  one  thing  and  do  it  well.  Do  not  think  anything  you  do 
for  the  Lord  is  a  little  work.  What  seems  to  you  a  little  work 
may  be  the  mightiest  work  that  has  ever  been  done.  I  suppose 
they  say  of  me,  "  O,  Moody  is  a  radical ;  he  is  a  fanatic  ;  he  has 
only  one  idea."  Well,  it  is  a  glorious  idea.  I  would  rather 
have  that  said  of  me  than  be  a  man  of  ten  thousand  ideas  and 
do  nothing  with  them.  To  have  one  idea,  and  that  idea  Christ, 
that  is  the  man  for  me ;  that  is  the  man  we  want  now.  A  man 
that  has  one  idea,  one  desire,  one  thought,  and  that  idea,  that 
thought,  that  desire,  Christ  and  Him  crucified  —  that  is  what 
this  perishing  world  wants  now.  It  can  get  on  without  our 
rhetoric  ;  it  can  get  on  without  our  fine  speeches,  without  our 
eloquence.  It  does  not  want  them ;  it  needs  Christ  and  Him 
crucified. 

WHAT    CHRIST    IS    TO    US. 

I  had  once  been  speaking  on  the  subject :  "  What  Christ 
Ofifers  to  be  to  Each  One  of  Us,"  and  on  my  way  home  I  said 
to  a  Scotch  friend  who  accompanied  me,  "I  got  only  half 
through  my  subject  to-night.  The  fact  is,  I  wanted  to  tell  the 
people  all  about  Christ."  He  replied,  "  Ah,  man,  you  don't 
expect  to  tell  all  about  Christ  in  one  meeting,  do  you?  That 
will  take  all  Eternity." 

If  we  are  going  to  know  Christ,  we  must  meet  Him  at 
the  cross ;  we  must  know  Him  first  as  our  Saviour.  Don't 
start  from  the  cradle,  but  start  from  the  cross.  Some  one 
asked  another  who  had  been  converted  why  Christ  was 
divine.     "  Why,"  he  said,  "  because  He  saved  me."     If  he  had 


276 


BIDDING    FOR    A    SOUL. 


Studied  a  week  he  couldn't  have  given  a  better  answer  than 
that ;  that  is  one  of  the  best  i)roofs  that  Jesus  Christ  is  divine, 
because  He  saves.  "  There  is  no  other  name  given  under 
Heaven  and  among  men  "  that  is  able  to  save,  but  that  name. 

Redemption  is  more  real  than  salvation.  I  asked  a  man 
some  time  ago  why  he  thought  so  much  of  a  certain  man.  I 
noticed  that  he  could  not  speak  of  him  without  tears  in  his 
eyes,  and  so  I  said,  "  Why  is  it  that  you  love  that  man  as  you 
do?"  "Why,  Mr.  jMoody,"  he  said,  "he  saved  me."  He 
told  me  how  he  became  involved,  how  he  took  what  did  not 
belong  to  him,  thinking  he  could  replace  it  in  a  few  weeks,  but 
when  that  time  came  he  found  he  could  not.  In  a  week  or  two 
exposure  would  come,  and  it  meant  sure  ruin  to  him,  his  wife, 
and  family.  He  went  to  this  friend  and  poured  out  his  heart, 
and  he  advanced  him  the  money  and  paid  the  debt ;  and  he 
added.  "  I  would  lay  down  my  life  for  that  friend.  He  saved 
me."  It  was  out  of  gratitude  to  that  man  that  he  was  willing  to 
give  his  life  for  him. 

Ask  yourselves,  Am  I  redeemed?  If  not,  why  not  settle  the 
great  question  now?  Why  postpone  it  any  longer?  Why 
make  any  more  delay?  It  is  said  of  Rowland  Hill  that  he  was 
once  preaching  in  the  ojien  air  when  Lady  Erskine  rode  by,  and 
she  ordered  her  carriage  driven  as  close  up  as  possible,  so  that 
she  might  hear  him.  And  he  said  :  "  My  friends,  I  have  got 
something  for  .sale  to-day."  Of  course  all  was  silence  then. 
"  I  am  going,"  he  said,  "  to  sell  it  by  auction.  It  is  worth  more 
than  the  crown  of  England.  It  is  worth  more  than  all  the 
world.  It  is  the  soul  of  Lady  Ann  Erskine.  Hark!  I  hear  a 
bid  f(jr  her  soul.  Who  bids?  Satan  bids.  Satan,  what  will 
^•ou  give  for  this  soul?  '  I  will  give  riches,  and  Imnor,  and 
pleasure;  yea,  I  will  give  the  whole  world  for  her  soul!  '  Do 
I  hear  another  bid  for  this  soul  ?  Ah  !  methinks  I  hear  another 
l)id.  Who  bids?  The  Lord  Jesus  bids.  Jesus,  what  will  you 
bid  for  this  soul  ?  '  I  will  give  peace,  and  joy,  and  comfort,  that 
the  world  knows  not  of.  Yea,  I  will  give  eternal  life  for  her 
soul  I  '  "  Turning  to  Lady  Erskine  he  said,  "  You  have  here  two 


thp:  way,   thk  truth,  and  thk  life.  277 

bidders,  which  will  you  take?"  And,  ordering  her  carriage 
door  opened,  she  made  her  way  through  the  crowd  and  said, 
"  The  Lord  Jesus  shall  have  my  soul  if  He  will  take  it."  That 
story  may  be  true,  or  it  may  not  be  true.  But  it  is  true  there 
are  two  parties  bidding  for  your  soul  to-day. 

I  hear  people  say,  "  There  are  so  many  creeds  now,  and  so 
many  different  doctrines.  I  don't  know  the  way  to  become  a 
Christian.  Here  are  our  Roman  Catholic  friends,  and  they  say 
theirs  is  the  only  way ;  they  say  they  came  straight  down  from 
Pentecost.  Then  you  go  to  the  Episcopalians,  and  they  will 
tell  you  that  theirs  is  the  apostolic  church.  You  go  over  to 
Russia  and  they  will  tell  you  that  the  Greek  church  came  right 
straight  down  from  the  Ark,  and  theirs  must  be  the  right  way. 
Here  are  our  good  Baptist  friends ;  they  think  they  are  nearer 
right  than  any  of  them.  Here  are  our  Methodist  friends ;  you 
can  tell  a  John-\\'esley  Methodist  anywhere,  and  they  think 
they  are  right.  Then  come  our  Congregationalist  friends,  and 
they  think  they  are  nearer  right  than  anybody  else.  Then  a 
Presbyterian  asserts  that  John  Calvin  and  John  Knox  were 
nearer  right  than  any  of  them,  and  the  Lutherans  think  they  are 
all  right,  and  I  don't  know  which  is  right." 

The  Lord  hasn't  left  us  in  the  dark.  He  says,  "  I  am 
the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  Accept  Christ  and  you  will 
have  the  right  way,  the  right  life,  and  the  right  truth.  When 
there  were  no  paths  through  the  woods,  and  men  wanted  to 
leave  a  sign  by  which  others  might  follow  them  through  the 
trackless  forest,  they  chipped  the  trees  with  a  hatchet,  every 
few  feet,  and  they  called  it  "  blazing  the  way."  The  Son  of 
God  came  down  here  and  blazed  the  way  through  the  wilder- 
ness, and  if  we  will  take  our  eyes  off  from  one  another,  and 
off  from  sects  and  creeds  and  doctrines,  and  follow  Him,  we 
shall  be  led  in  the  right  way.  We  would  be  saved  many  a 
dark  hour,  if  we  were  only  willing  to  walk  with  God,  if  we 
w^ould  only  just  let  Him  take  us  by  the  hand  and  lead  us. 
What  God  wants  us  to  do  is  to  follow  in  His  footsteps.  I 
have  been  told  that  scouts  sometimes  find  an  Indian  trail  con- 


2/8 


THE    LIGHT    OK    THE    WORLD. 


sisting  of  only  one  footprint,  as  if  only  one  man  had  passed  over 
the  land.  The  chief  goes  before,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  tribe 
follow  him  and  put  their  feet  into  his  footsteps.  That  is  what 
our  Chief  wants  us  to  do.  He  has  passed  through  the  heavens 
and  gone  up  on  high,  and  He  wants  us  to  follow. 

That  brings  me  to  another  thing :  Christ  is  the  light ;  not 
a  light,  but  tlic  light ;  not  a  way,  but  the  way  ;  not  a  door,  but  the 
door ;  there  is  only  one  door.  My  dear  friends,  these  denomi- 
nations build  up  fences  :  the  Catholics  have  put  up  a  high  fence, 
the  Greek  church,  the  Baptists,  the  Methodists,  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  the  Presbyterians,  all  have  put  up  their  fences,  but 
the  Lord  Jesus  will  sweep  them  all  away.  Should  anyone  ask 
if  you  are  a  Methodist,  or  a  Baptist,  the  question  is  of  no 
account ;  but  the  real  question  is.  Are  you  a  Christian,  and  bap- 
tized? If  you  are,  these  names  don't  amount  to  anything. 
When  you  get  to  heaven,  you  won't  find  Methodists  or  Bap- 
tists or  Episcopalians  or  Romanists  or  Congregationalists  or 
Presbyterians,  but  we  shall  all  be  one  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  whole 
crowd  of  us.     You  can't  be  in  the  dark  if  you  follow  Christ. 

I  was  once  in  a  gentleman's  house,  and  he  called  my  atten- 
tion to  a  picture  that  hung  on  the  wall.  I  told  him  if  any  one 
had  given  it  to  me,  I  wouldn't  put  it  up.  The  first  time  I  saw 
it  I  thought  it  was  a  beautiful  picture  ;  but  w  hen  I  remembered 
the  text  it  portrayed,  "  I  am  the  light  of  the  world,"  I  changed 
my  opinion.  It  represented  Jesus  Christ  standing  at  the  door 
of  a  cottage,  with  a  great  lantern.  I  thought,  "  What  does 
Jesus  Christ  want  of  a  lantern  ?  "  It  would  be  like  hanging  a 
lantern  on  the  sun.  If  you  get  Jesus  Christ,  you  get  the 
lantern  and  everything  else.  He  is  the  light,  and  He  will  dispel 
all  the  darkness  around  you.  If  you  want  light,  and  peace,  and 
jov,  turn  your  eyes  toward  Jesus  Christ,  and  they  will  all  come 
to  you. 

Did  you  ever  try  to  catch  your  shadow?  I  have  tried  it. 
I  placed  a  light  on  the  floor,  and  tried  to  leap  over  the  shadow, 
by  jumping  over  the  light ;  but  the  shadow  went  over  my  head, 
and  I  never  could  catch  it.     T  could  run  then  faster  than  I  can 


THE    WAY    TO    DISPEL    DARKNESS. 


279 


now,  but  I  couldn't  catch  my  shadow.  It  was  a  Uttle  shadow 
then,  not  so  big  as  it  is  now,  but  I  couldn't  catch  it.  I  remem- 
ber one  night  when  the  sun  had  sunk  far  down  in  the  west,  I 
was  going  down  the  mountain  side  facing  the  sun,  and  a  boy 
was  coming  after  me,  trying  to  catch  me.  I  ran  down  the 
mountain  —  I  was  barefooted,  and  I  could  run  pretty  fast  then 
—  and  by  and  by  I  looked  over  my  shoulder  to  see  if  the  boy 
was  gaining  on  me,  and  what  did  I  see  ?  A  great  long  shadow 
coming  after  me,  but  I  couldn't  see  tfie  boy.  I  remember  lots 
of  times  when  I  have  been  facing  the  sun,  looking  around  and 
finding  a  shadow  coming  after  me.  I  didn't  try  to  catch  it  at 
all,  but  it  was  trying  to  catch  me.  Just  turn  your  eyes  to  Jesus, 
and  peace  and  joy  will  come  right  after  you. 

Suppose  a  building  was  just  completed,  and  it  was  then 
found  that  there  were  no  windows  in  it,  no  electric  lights,  or 
gas,  or  means  of  lighting  it ;  and  the  builder's  attention  is  called 
to  it,  and  he  comes  in  and  says,  "  Why,  I  never  thought  about 
that!  There  is  to  be  a  meeting  here  this  afternoon,  and  I've 
forgotten  all  about  the  lighting."  So  he  gets  some  men  with 
pails  and  sets  them  at  work  bailing  out  the  darkness !  You 
would  say  that  he  was  crazy  —  had  gone  mad  !  The  quickest 
way  to  dispel  darkness  is  to  let  the  light  in.  I  tried  to  make  this 
illustration  as  absurd  as  I  could,  because  you  are  doing  the 
very  thing  it  illustrates.  Just  let  the  light  in,  and  the  darkness 
will  take  care  of  itself. 

When  I  first  went  West,  I  always  used  to  try  to  preach  in 
churches  on  Sundays,  and  talk  to  people  wherever  I  got  a 
chance  through  the  week.  Of  course  I  wasn't  known  then,  and 
sometimes  they  would  look  upon  me  with  a  good  deal  of  sus- 
picion. If  I  didn't  get  into  a  church,  I  would  get  up  a  meeting 
in  some  schoolhouse.  Sometimes  after  I  had  spoken  in  the 
afternoon,  some  old  farmer  would  get  up  and  say,  "  Won't  you 
speak  here  again  to-night?  "  "  Yes,  sir."  Then  he  would  an- 
nounce, ''  The  young  brother  will  speak  here  to-night  at  early 
candle-light."  The  first  man  who  came  to  the  meeting  would 
bring,    perhaps,   an    old    dingy   lantern.     He    would    set   the 


28o  LET    YOUR    LIGHT    SHINE. 

lantern  up  on  the  desk,  and  while  it  didn't  give  much  light,  it 
was  a  good  deal  better  than  sitting  in  the  dark.  Perhaps  the 
next  one  who  came  in  would  be  a  woman,  and  she  would  bring 
out  from  under  her  shawl  an  old  sperm-oil  lamp.  The  light 
would  be  very  feeble,  but  she  would  set  the  lamp  up  on  the  desk 
and  it  helped  a  little.  The  next  man  would  bring  out  of  his 
pocket  a  tallow-dip,  and  he  would  light  his  match  and  set  that 
up  on  the  desk.  Hiat  is  the  way  they  would  light  up  the  room  ; 
and  by  the  time  we  got  all  the  people  there,  we  had  plenty  of 
light.  If  every  man  and  woman  would  give  only  a  little  light, 
they  could  light  up  a  whole  city.  If  you  can't  be  a  lighthouse, 
you  can  give  as  much  light  as  a  tallow-dip.  or  an  old  dingy 
lantern.  That  is  what  we  are  here  for,  not  to  be  mere  agents  to 
represent  our  Alaster,  but  we  arc  here  to  shine  ;  not  only  in  our 
homes,  but  in  our  places  of  business.  Wherever  our  light  goes, 
we  must  not  let  it  give  an  uncertain  light.  Set  the  light  on  a 
hill,  not  in  a  valley ;  put  it  on  top,  not  under  the  bushel. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE   UNBOUNDED    GRACE    OF   GOD. 

Telling  Mr.  Moody  How  to  Preach  —  The  Old  Lady  Who  Locked 
the  Door — Mr.  Moody's  first  Arrival  in  Boston  as  a  Boy — 
Haunting  the  Post-office  —  The  IMan  Who  Built  a  Ladder  to 
Heaven  — The  Captured  Spy  — Mr.  Moody's  Vanished  Audi- 
ence—  The  Man  Behind  the  Furnace  —  Sunday-school  Teacher 
and  the  Silver  Watch  —  "  ]\Iore  to  Follow  "  —  Living  on  "  Old 
Joy  "  —  The  Man  Who  Never  Forgot  the  "  Meetings  of  '57  "  — 
One  of  'Mr.  ^Moody's  Experiences  in  London  —  "  High  Level"  or 
"  Low  Level  "  —  "  Is  this  Young  Man  '  O.  O  '  ?  "  —  A  Disgusted 
Listener  —  A  Remarkable  Story  —  "A  Tick  at  a  Time"  — 
"Peculiar"  People  —  Why  Fie  Put  an  Extra  Shine  on  His 
Boots  —  "  Weak  "  and  "  Lazy  "  People  —  "I  Thought  it  Wouldn't 
Alake  any  Difference." 

WHEN  we  opened  our  first  meetings  in  New  York  one 
of  the  newspapers  began  to  tell  me  how  to  preach, 
and  said  if  I  would  tell  the  people  to  do  the  best  they 
could,  it  would  be  "  sound  doctrine."  I  said  that  I  would  tell 
them.  I  think  I  have  enough  grace  not  to  tell  a  man  to  work 
out  his  salvation  in  his  own  strength.  If  a  man's  works  could- 
save  him,  would  Christ  have  left  the  bosom  of  the  Father  and 
suffered  the  agonies  of  Gethsemane  and  Calvary?  There  is 
not  a  place  in  the  Bible  where  it  teaches  that  a  man  can  save- 
J^timself  independent  of  God,  and  separate  from  God.  You 
say.  What  was  the  law  given  for?  It  was  given  that  every 
mouth  might  be  stopped ;  and  when  a  man  has  come  to  honor 
the  gift  he  has  not  much  to  say. 

Perhaps  no  word  in  the  Bible  is  so  misunderstood  as  the 
word  "  grace."  It  means  unmerited  mercy,  undeserved  favor. 
If  no  one  was  to  be  saved  until  he  was  worthy  there  would  be 
no  more  souls  redeemed.     But  God  has  not  promised  to  deal 

(2S3) 


284 


LAW    AND    LOVE. 


4 


i 


in  grace  with  those  who  are  worthy,  but  with  the  unworthy. 
In  the  second  chapter  of  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  Titus  grace  is 
portrayed  in  a  threefold  manner ;  grace  that  saves  us ;  grace 
that  teaches  us  how  to  live ;  and  grace  that  sends  us  out  into 
the  vineyard  to  work.     That  covers  the  Christian  life. 

The  law  came  by  Moses^_b.ut  grac£_and_triith  by  Jesus  ^ 
Christy  The  law  tells  me  how  vile  I  am.  Grace  comes  and 
cleanses  me,  and  makes  me  meet  for  the  kingdom  of  God. 
That  is  the  difference  between  law  and  grace ;  law  slays  a  man, 
but  grace  makes  him  live ;  the  law  takes  a  man  to  death  and 
judgment,  but  Christ  comes  and  (|uickcns  him,  giving  eternal 
life.  Let  me  repeat ;  law  leads  unto  death,  but  grace  leads  to 
eternal  life  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

\\'hy,  the  law  is  a  schoolmaster;  a  cold,  severe  man  who  is 
continually  holding  a  rattan  over  you.  TJioii  slialt  do  this,  and 
thou  shah  do  that.  That  is  the  law,  with  a  rattan  at  the  back  of 
it.  But  under  grace  the  schoolmaster  tries  to  rule  the  school 
with  kindness  and  love.  He  says  if  you  love  me,  do  this ;  if 
you  love  me,  don't  do  that. 

The  schoolmaster  that  taught  me  was  a  harsh,  severe  man. 
It  was  a  word  and  a  blow  with  him,  and  generally  the  blow 
came  first.  I  knew  what  it  was  to  experience  severity  in  my 
school  days,  and  I  also  knew  what  it  was  to  experience  kind- 
ness. After  that  stern  school-teacher  came  a  kind-hearted 
lady,  who  ruled  by  love.  Well,  we  thought  we  should  have  a 
grand  time  —  do  just  as  we  pleased  —  didn't  fear  her.  The 
first  time  that  I  broke  a  rule,  instead  of  seeing  a  rattan  in  her 
hand,  I  saw  tears  in  her  eyes.  That  was  a  good  deal  worse  than 
a  stick  or  a  rawhide  to  me.  She  asked  me  to  remain  after 
school.  When  we  were  alone  she  took  me  by  the  hand  and 
talked  to  me  in  a  low,  kind  voice,  and  with  tears  in  her  eyes. 
"  If  you  love  me,"  she  said,  "  keep  my  rules."  I  tell  you  I  never 
broke  a  rule  after  that.  Her  kind  words  went  straight  to  my 
heart. 

Dr.  Arnot  used  to  tell  the  story  of  one  of  his  experiences 
when  he  was  pastor  of  a  church  in  Glasgow.     He  had  a  parish- 


BARRING    THK    DdOR. 


285 


ioner,  an  old  lady,  who  could  not  pay  her  rent.  So  the  Doctor 
went  around  to  see  her,  and  knocked  at  the  door.  No  one 
came ;  but  he  thought  he  heard  some  one  walking  stealthily 
around  inside,  so  he  knocked  again,  and  louder  and  still  louder. 
Then  he  tried  the  door,  but  it  was  fastened.  Then  he  kicked 
on  the  door,  and  made  such  a  noise  that  the  next  door  neighbor 
came  around  to  see  what  the  fuss  was  all  about.  The  Doctor 
said  to  himself : 

"  My  ears  must  have  deceived  me.^" 

He  went  away.  Some  days  after  that  he  met  the  old  lady  in 
the  street  and  told  her  that  having  heard  she  was  in  great  dis- 
tress, and  could  not  pay  her  rent,  he  had  called  around  to  help 
her. 

"  Oh !  "  she  said,  "  was  that  you?  Why,  Doctor,  I  thought 
it  was  the  landlord  coming  around  for  his  rent,  and  I  kept  the 
door  locked  and  fastened." 

That  is  the  condition  of  many  before  God.  They  shut  the 
door,  lock  and  bar  and  double  bar  it,  and  keep  the  Lord  out,  and 
think  he  is  coming  only  to  demand  something  of  them. 

It  is  amusing  to  hear  of  people  working  out  salvation  when 
they  haven't  got  any.  You  must  first  get  salvation  before  you 
can  "  work  it  out."  You  have  got  to  take  salvation,  first,  as  a 
gift.  A  man  has  got  to  have  a  hundred  cents  before  he  can 
spend  a  hundred  cents,  hasn't  he? 

When  I  went  to  Boston  as  a  boy  I  soon  ran  short  of  money, 
and  I  anxiously  looked  for  a  letter  from  home  with  some  money 
in  it ;  so  I  used  to  go  to  the  post-office  on  the  arrival  of  every 
mail  and  inquire  for  a  letter.  The  man  at  the  general  delivery 
window  would  say  there  wasn't  any  ;  then  I  would  say, 

"  I  think  there  must  be  a  letter  there  somewhere  ;  won't  you 
please  look  again  ?  "     And  he  would  reply  : 

"  I  think  I  know  my  business ;  there  is  no  letter  here  for 
you. 

At  last  the  long-looked  for  letter  came,  and  I  never  was  so 
glad  to  get  anything  in  my  life.  I  opened  and  read  it ;  it  was 
from  my  young  sister,  and  she  was  very  much  afraid  that  I 
18 


286  SALVATION    A    GIFT. 

\voulcl  he  robbed,  and  she  cautioned  me  to  look  out  that  thieves 
didn't  pick  my  pockets.  I  was  more  concerned  about  getting 
something  into  my  pockets  than  aliout  having  them  picked,  for 
I  hadn't  anything  in  them. 

1/  You  must  take  salvation  first  as  a  gift,  and  then  work  be- 
/7£  cause  you  are  saved.  A|\'ork  fi-nm  t)i('  c'''^^\  not  work  towards 
it.  J  fork  it  out.  I  have  vcr}-  little  sympathy  with  lazy  Chris- 
tians. I  believe  laziness  belongs  to  the  old  creation,  and  not 
to  the  new.  When  a  man  works  for  salvation,  and  puts  his 
work  in  place  of  salvation,  he  cannot  talk  to  you  about  the  "  gift 
of  God." 

If  a  man  comes  to  my  door  and  asks  me  for  a  ton  of 
coal  or  a  load  of  wood,  there  is  no  merit  in  his  taking  the  gift ; 
and  there  is  not  much  chance  for  boasting  when  you  take  the 
gift  of  God  as  a  beggar  takes  alms.  The  reason  why  no  more 
are  saved  is  because  many  would  like  to  be  saved  on  their  own 
terms ;  they  want  to  put  God  under  obligations  and  make  out 
that  they  arc  pretty  good  sinners,  just  coming  short  a  little  ;  can 
pay  ninety-nine  cents  on  a  dollar.  They  think  the  Lord  will 
make  up  the  rest. 

I  once  heard  of  a  man  who  thought  he  could  work  his  way 
up  to  heaven  by  giving  up  his  wealth  and  doing  good  deeds. 
One  night  he  dreamed  he  was  building  a  ladder  from  earth  to 
heaven.  At  first  it  was  pretty  near  the  ground  ;  but  as  he  kept 
doing  good  deeds  it  kept  going  uj:*  and  up,  and  one  day  when 
he  had  been  unusually  generous,  having  given  several  thousand 
dollars  to  a  good  purpose,  the  ladder  went  right  up  out  of  sight. 
He  helped  God  a  good  many  years,  and  the  ladder  kept  going 
u])  higher  and  higher  until  tinally  it  reached  right  up  to  the 
throne  of  God.  Then  he  thought  he  was  going  to  be  saved  ;  so 
he  left  the  world  and  started  to  climb  the  ladder,  but  before  he 
got  far  it  began  to  tremble,  and  when  he  got  up  into  the  clouds 
it  shook  so  he  could  hardl}-  kvvp  on.  While  he  was  clinging 
to  his  frail  support,  terribly  frightened,  he  heard  a  voice  from 

/I  the  throne  —  "  Tie  that  climbeth  up  some  other  way,  the  same 
/f  is  a  thief  and  a  robber."     Then  down  came  the  ladder  and  he 


HATRED  TURNKD  TO  REVKRENCE.         28/ 

awoke  from  his  sleep.  If  you  wouldg^o^to  heaven  think  of  that 
dream  and  know  that  vou  must  enter  through  tlieonly  way 
that  God  has  provided,  that  is,  through  His  own  Son. 

A  Scotchman  said  it  took  two  to  convert  him,  —  himseh" 
^d  the  Ahnighty.  Xjnan  said  to  him,  "  What  did  you  do  ?J' 
He  saidj  "  I  did  all  I  could  against  it,  and  the  Lord  did  the_ 
rest."  LeJLy;our_rnind  go  back  to  the  time  when  Clir^st  first 
met  you,  and  you  will  find  that  out^ 

A  minister  once  introduced  a  man  to  me,  and  asked  me  to 
notice  him  particularly  so  that  I  would  know  him  again.  When 
I  reached  my  friend's  home  I  said.  "  Tell  me  about  that  man." 
"  Well,"  he  said,  "  during  the  war  he  was  a  Confederate  spy, 
was  captured,  courtmartialed,  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  He 
cursed  President  Lincoln,  and  he  cursed  God,  but  especially 
he  cursed  the  President.  It  seemed  as  if  he  lay  awake  nights 
to  heap  abuse  upon  President  Lincoln.  The  soldiers  lost  all 
pity  for  him,  and  at  last  they  grew  so  angry  that  they  would 
have  been  willing  to  starve  him  to  death.  One  day  an  oflficer 
came  in,  and  the  prisoner  supposed  he  had  come  to  order  him 
to  be  shot.  He  began  to  curse  and  revile  Lincoln,  and  the 
officer  said : 

"  If  you  received  your  deserts  you  would  be  shot ;  but  the  /     (5,  , 
President  has  sent  you  a  pardon,  and  you  are  a  free  man  !  " 

"What?     What's  that?"  stammered  the  prisoner. 

"  There,  sir,"  said  the  officer,  "  is  your  pardon,  and  we  have 
no  claim  upon  you." 

When  the  man  realized  that  he  was  pardoned  he  broke  down 
completely,  and  wept  like  a  child.  And  my  friend  added, 
"  That  man  is  now  an  elder  in  my  church,  and  there  is  no  man. 
North  or  South,  who  more  reveres  the  memory  of  Lincoln,  or 
who  will  more  earnestly  defend  his  character."  That  is  often 
the  way  the  Lord  saves.  I  have  seen  a  sinner  cursing  and  re- 
viling, but  the  grace  of  God  came  to  him,  and  he  became  a  new 
man  in  Christ  Jesus. 

A  man  who  believes  that  he  is  lost  is  near  salvation.  Why? 
Because  you  haven't  got  to  work  to  convince  him  that  he  is 


i- 


288  .RESCUED    FROM    DESPAIR. 

lost.  Anyone  who  will  repent  and  turn  to  God  will  be  saved. 
It  makes  no  difference  what  your  life  has  been  in  the  past.  I 
was  preaching  one  Sunday  to  a  fashionable  audience,  and  after 
the  sermon  I  said  : 

"  If  there  are  any  who  would  like  to  remain  and  talk,  I 
shall  be  glad  to  talk  with  them." 

They  all  got  up,  turned  around,  and  every  one  of  them  went 
out.  I  felt  as  if  I  were  abandoned.  When  I  was  going  out  I 
saw  a  man  behind  the  furnace.  He  had  no  coat  on,  and  was 
weeping  bitterly.     I  said  : 

"  My  friend,  what  is  the  trouble?  " 

He  said:  "  You  told  me  to-night  that  I  could  be  saved; 
that  there  wasn't  a  man  so  far  gone  but  the  grace  of  God  could 
reach  him.  I  am  an  exile  from  my  family;  I  have  drunk  up 
twenty  thousand  dollars  within  the  last  few  months ;  I  have 
drunk  up  the  coat  off  my  back,  and  if  there  is  hope  for  a  poor 
fellow  like  me  I  should  like  to  be  saved." 

I  didn't  dare  give  him  money  for  fear  he  would  spend  it  for 
more  drink,  but  I  got  him  a  place  to  stay  that  night,  provided 
him  a  coat,  took  an  interest  in  him,  and  six  months  after  that, 
when  I  left  Chicago  for  Europe,  he  was  one  of  the  most  earnest 
Christian  men  I  knew.  The  Lord  had  blessed  him  wonder- 
fully. He  was  an  active,  capable  man.  The  grace  of  God 
can  save  just  such  men,  if  they  will  only  repent. 

A  Sunday-school  teacher  of  a  class  of  boys  wanted  to  show 
them  how  free  the  gift  of  God  is.  So  he  took  out  a  silver  watcli 
and  offered  it  to  the  first  boy  in  the  class,  and  said  : 

"  I  will  give  you  this  watch,  if  you  will  take  it." 

The  boy  laughed,  and  would  not  take  it.  Then  ho  offered 
it  to  the  next  boy,  and  the  next,  and  to  every  boy  in  the  class 
till  he  came  to  the  youngest,  and  the  little  fellow  slipped  it  into 
his  own  hand.  The  other  boys  thought  it  was  a  joke  on  the 
teacher's  part.  The  teacher  then  took  out  the  watch-key  and 
said : 

"  The  watch  is  yours.  You  have  taken  me  at  my  word. 
A\'ind  the  watch  up,  and  it  will  keep  good  time." 


TAKING    ALL    GOD    OFFERS. 


289 


And  one  of  the  other  boys  said  : 

"What  do  you  mean?  That's  not  his  watch  for  good, 
is  it?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  And  he  needn't  ever  bring  it  back  to  you?  " 

"  No." 

"  Oil — h  !     If  I  had  known  that,  I'd  have  taken  it."    ^ 

Rowland  Hill  tells  a  story  of  a  rich  man  and  a  poor  man  of 
his  congregation.  The  rich  man  came  to  Mr.  Hill  with  a  sum 
of  money  that  he  wished  to  give  to  the  poor  man,  and  asked 
Mr.  Hill  to  give  it  to  him  as  he  thought  best,  either  all  at  once 
or  in  small  amounts.  Mr.  Hill  sent  the  poor  man  a  five  pound 
note  with  the  message  —  "  More  to  follow."  Every  month 
came  the  remittance  with  the  same  message  —  "  More  to  fol- 
low." Now,  that's  grace.  **  More  to  follow  "  —  yes,  thank 
God,  there's  more  to  follow. 

I  believe  it  is  dishonorable  for  God's  people  to  keep  singing 
about  living  "  at  this  poor,  dying  rate,"  and  talking  about  how 
little  love  they  have  for  Him.  People  get  up  in  the  prayer-meet- 
ing and  say  if  they  can  get  a  crumb  from  the  Father's  table  they 
will  be  satisfied.  Crumbs  are  good  eating  for  cats  and  dogs 
and  chickens,  but  poor  for  a  man.  I  think  the  Lord  wants  us 
to  ask  for  the  loaf.  What  w'ould  you  say  if  I  were  a  millionaire 
with  an  income  of  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  so 
many  thousand  dollars  a  week  to  live  on,  and  I  really  lived  on 
a  few  cents  a  day.  You  would  say  that  I  was  the  meanest, 
closest  man  you  ever  met,  and  you  would  have  the  utmost  con- 
tempt for  me.  We  have  a  rich  banker,  but  if  we  get  a  "  little  " 
we  are  perfectly  satisfied.  God  says,  "  Come  boldly  unto  the 
throne  of  grace  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to 
help  in  time  of  need."  We  can  have  all  the  grace  we  want. 
It  is  a  question  of  simply  taking  what  God  offers  us. 

I  remember  when  I  was  on  the  Pacific  coast,  a  man  took  me 
through  his  fine  house,  over  his  broad  lands,  showed  me  his 
thriving  orchards,  and  said :  "  Mr.  Moody,  you  are  a  guest 
of  mine,  and  I  want  you  to  feel  perfectly  at  home ;  do  what  you 


290 


LIVIXC;    ON    STALK    MANXA. 


like.''  Well,  after  he  had  said  that,  you  don't  suppose  if  I 
wanted  an  orange  I  was  going  under  the  tree  to  pray  that  it 
would  fall  into  my  pocket,  do  you  ?  No.  I  just  went  up  boldly 
and  plucked  what  I  wanted. 

There  are  a  lot  of  Christians  that  are  sort  of  half-starved ; 
they  are  living  on  past  experience,  thinking  of  the  grand  times 
they  had  twenty  years  ago,  perhaps  when  they  were  converted 
—  living  on  stale  manna.  I  know  some  people  that  just  live 
on  old  joy.  A  friend  told  me  of  a  man  who  lived  for  eighteen 
years  on  the  '57  revival.  "  Why,"  he  said,  "  I  never  enjoyed 
myself  as  I  did  in  '57  ;  that  is  when  I  was  converted  ;  you  ought 
to  have  seen  the  meetings  we  had  in  '57."  Never  anything  like 
'57.  If  he  was  in  prayer-meeting,  it  made  no  difference  what 
the  subject  was,  he  was  always  talking  about  '57.  Well,  '57 
was  good  with  me  ;  '58  was  better  than  '57 ;  '59  was  better  than 
'58,  and  so  on,  and  I  expect  each  year  is  going  to  wind  up  better 
than  any  preceding  year.  I  believe  the  path  of  the  just  is  as  a 
shining  light  that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

Don't  you  know  that  we  honor  God  when  we  ask  Him 
for  great  things?  I  believe  it  is  dishonoring  to  God,  —  I  be- 
lieve it  deeply  in  my  soul.  —  for  us  to  live  the  way  we  are  living, 
at  this  low  rate,  this  low  level.  I  remember  the  first  time  I 
went  to  London,  in  1867.  I  wanted  to  see  the  Crystal  Palace. 
It  was  out  of  the  city.     So  I  went  to  the  ticket  ofifice,  and  said : 

"  Give  me  a  ticket  for  the  Crystal  Palace." 

"  High  Level,  or  Low  Level?  "  said  the  booking-clerk. 

I  had  no  idea  what  he  meant,  but  I  thought  it  might  be  high 
fare  or  low  fare,  and  I  said : 

"  Low  Level." 

I've  never  gone  "  Low  Level  "  since.  I  got  enough  that 
day.  I  found  that  I  was  landed  down  in  a  hollow,  and  the 
Palace  was  aw'ay  up  on  a  hill.  I  think  I  climbed  two  hundred 
and  sixty  steps,  and  I  was  all  out  of  breath  when  I  reached  it. 
I  found  if  I  had  taken  a  "  High  Level  "  ticket  I  should  have 
been  landed  right  up  by  the  Palace.  That's  why  Christians 
have  to  climb.     They  go  "  Low  Level  "  all  the  time,  and  what 


OUT    AND    OUT    FOR    CHRIST. 


291 


a  time  they  have  of  it  in  the  evening  of  Hfe.  The  grace  of  God 
is  to  lift  us  up  on  the  "  High  Level." 

There  is  another  class  of  people  who  labor  under  the  delu- 
sion that  if  they  are  worldly  Christians  they  are  going  to  make 
the  most  out  of  both  worlds.  You  couldn't  make  a  greater  mis- 
take. If  a  man  asks  me  about  becoming  a  Christian,  but  fears 
that  he  will  not  be  kept,  I  say  to  him,  "  Either  stay  in  the  world 
or  get  clear  out  of  it."  I  remember  when  I  first  went  to  Lon- 
don, a  merchant  wanted  me  to  go  to  Dublin,  and  I  went.  He 
introduced  me  to  an  old,  white-haired  man,  who  said : 

"  Is  this  young  man  all  '  O.  O.'  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  London  merchant,  "  He  is  '  O.  O.'  " 

I  began  to  color  up.  I  had  heard  of  D.  D.,  but  not  of 
"O.  O."     And  he  said: 

"  Is  he  Out  and  Out  for  Christ?  " 

I  never  forgot  that  expression.  "  Out  and  Out."  The 
only  way  to  live  a  peaceful  life,  a  joyful  life,  is  to  live  it  "  Out 
and  Out."     It  is  the  only  way  that  Christians  should  try  to  live. 

A  great  many  people  say,  "  Well,  this  has  been  my  experi- 
ence :  I  have  not  found  grace  enough  to  keep  me  in  perfect 
peace,  rest,  and  joy."  Then  that's  your  own  fault ;  because  you 
don't  go  to  the  Lord  and  get  it.  When  I  was  preaching  in 
London  in  1884,  a  crippled  lady  was  brought  in  a  chair  to  one 
of  our  meetings.  She  sat  right  in  front  of  me,  and  she  wore 
a  look  of  perfect  disgust  and  contempt  through  the  whole  ser- 
vice. When  the  meeting  was  over  the  footman  came  to  carry 
her  out  to  her  carriage,  and  she  said : 

"  Take  me  out  of  this  !  " 

I  said  to  myself,  "  I  shall  never  sec  her  again ;  "  but,  to  my 
amazement,  she  was  back  the  next  day,  and  they  kept  bringing 
her  back  from  day  to  day.  I  watched  her,  and  that  look  of 
contempt  and  disgust  began  to  disappear,  and  in  its  place  came 
an  eager,  anxious  look.     One  day  she  sent  for  me,  and  said : 

"  Mr.  Moody,  you  have  something  that  I  have  not." 

"  If  you  haven't  got  the  love  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
your  heart.  I  have  something  that  you  have  not,"  I  replied. 


292 


THE    DISCOURAGED    PENDULUM. 


"  You  have  got  peace  and  joy  that  I  know  nothing  about." 

"  I  am  sure  of  that  if  you  don't  know  Christ." 

*'  But  I  would  hkc  to  have  it,"  she  said. 

"  You  can  have  it,  you  can  have  that  Christ ;  "  and  I 
preached  Christ  to  her.     And  she  said  : 

"  Well,  when  you  go  to  America,  it  will  all  be  over  with  me." 

She  was  sure  she  could  not  "  hold  out."  Finally,  one  day, 
I  happened  to  think  of  the  old  fable  of  the  Pendulum  and  the 
Clock,  —  how  the  pendulum  figured  out  the  number  of  thou- 
sand and  hundreds  of  thousands  and  millions  of  times  it  must 
tick,  and  it  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  could  never  travel  so 
far,  swinging  such  a  great  distance,  so  many  miles,  and  it  was 
going  to  give  up  the  "  strike  " ;  but  the  second  thought  came 
and  it  decided  to  go  on  :  it  was  only  "  a  tick  at  a  time."  Some 
people  think  they  are  going  to  get  enough  grace  at  an  experi- 
ence meeting  to  last  all  their  lifetime.  No,  No.  Get  manna 
from  heaven  fresh  every  day. 

Now  there  are  people  who,  because  they  can  get  light  on 
their  path  for  only  a  day  at  a  time  won't  take  it.  My  friends, 
what  would  happen  if  God  should  give  you  grace  enough  at 
once  to  last  all  your  lifetime?  I  have  a  friend  on  the  banks  of 
Lake  Erie,  and  his  business  establishment  is  connected  by 
pipes  with  the  lake ;  and  he  said  if  the  Government  should  give 
him  Lake  Erie  he  wouldn't  know  what  to  do  with  it.  It  would 
flood  the  place  and  drown  him  out.  All  we  have  to  do  is  to 
keep  the  communication  open.  Just  draw  on  the  Bank  of 
Heaven.  You  couldn't  break  that  bank  if  you  tried.  Go 
down  to  a  city  bank  and  you  will  see  the  notice :  "  Open  from 
10  to  3."  But  the  Bank  of  Heaven  is  open  all  the  time,  day 
and  night. 

Well,  when  the  servants  came  to  take  this  crippled  lady 
away  that  day,  she  was  still  doubting;  but  she  came  again,  and 
again,  and  I  saw  a  great  change  in  her  face.  About  ten  days 
after,  I  received  a  letter  in  which  slie  said : 

"  ATr.  Moody,  I  want  to  thank  you  for  that  fable.  God  used 
that  to  bring  light  to  my  soul.     I  said,  '  I  can  trust  Him  to- 


STEP    BY    STEP.  293 

night,  and  I  will  go  on  step  by  step,'  and  I  concluded  to  trust 
Him  then  and  there  as  the  light  broke  in  upon  me,  and  I  have 
been  wonderfully  blest.  I  sent  my  servant  to  get  a  clock  with 
a  pendulum  that  swung  back  and  forth ;  and  the  servants  have 
changed  my  name,  and  they  now  call  me  '  Lady  Pendulum.'  " 

She  signed  her  name  to  the  letter,  "  Lady  Pendulum,"  and 
that  was  the  only  name  I  knew  her  by  for  a  long  time.  When 
I  left  London  I  received  a  box  from  her,  and  there  was  a  pen- 
dulum clock  in  it,  and  she  said  : 

"  Will  you  take  this  clock  home  with  you,  and  think  of  the 
poor  sinner  going  on  step  by  step?  " 

Almost  every  year  I  get  a  letter  from  ner,  and  the  "  clock 
is  still  ticking." 

In  1892  I  went  into  the  Hall  in  London,  and  I  saw  Lady 
Pendulum  there,  and  I  said : 

"  How  are  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  she  replied,  "  the  clock  is  still  ticking." 

She  has  educated  two  or  three  missionaries  and  sent  them 
to  India  to  preach  the  Gospel.  She  sends  beautiful  flowers, 
hundreds  of  books,  and  texts  of  Scripture  in  beautiful  frames, 
to  the  hospitals,  and  is  active  in  all  good  works. 

At  Northfield  we  have  people  come  to  speak  to  our 
students,  over  eleven  hundred  of  them,  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  some  of  the  speakers  say,  "  I  want  you  to 
understand  that  you  are  seeing  your  best  days."  And  I  squirm 
like  a  fish  out  of  water.  My  friends,  I  don't  think  I  have 
seen  my  "  best  days  "  by  a  good  deal.  I  have  no  sympathy 
with  the  idea  that  all  good  people  are  gone,  and  the  best  times 
are  behind  us.  Not  a  bit.  There's  a  grand  army  of  witnesses 
gone  on  ahead,  but  it  grows  brighter  and  brighter. 

You  hear  so  many  people  mourning  that  "  something  is 
going  to  happen."  When  the  hour  comes,  there  will  be  grace 
given  to  help  you.  A  great  many  people  live  all  their  lifetime 
under  the  "  bondage  of  death."  A  man  said  to  me  some  time 
ago,  "  Moody,  have  you  grace  enough  to  go  to  the  stake  as  a 
martyr?"     "  No,  what  do  I  want  to  go  to  the  stake  for?" 


294 


BENDING    UNDER    THE    LOAD. 


Another  said,  "  Moody,  if  God  should  take  your  son  have  you 
grace  enough  to  bear  it ?  "  I  said,  "  What  do  1  want  grace  for? 
1  don't  want  grace  to  bear  that  which  has  not  been  sent.  If 
God  should  call  upon  nie  to  part  with  my  son  He  would  give  me 
strength  to  bear  it."  What  we  want  is  grace  for  the  present, 
to  bear  the  trials  and  temptations  for  every  day.  "  As  thy 
days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

Don't  go  around  whining  and  mourning,  for  there  is  plenty 
of  it.  Some  people  borrow  all  the  troul^le  they  can  from  the 
past  and  the  future,  and  then  multiply  it  by  ten,  and  get  a  big 
load,  and  go  reeling  and  staggering  under  it.  If  you  ask  them 
to  help  any  one  else,  they  say  they  can't  —  they've  got  enough 
to  do  to  take  care  of  themselves ;  forgetting  "  Casting  all  your 
care  on  Him,  for  He  careth  for  you." 

A  man  was  once  traveling  along  a  highway,  and  he  over- 
took another  man  carrying  a  heavy  burden  on  his  back,  and  he 
asked  him  to  ride.  But  the  man,  after  he  got  into  the  wagon, 
still  kept  his  bundle  on  his  back,  saying,  "  I  am  willing  to  carry 
it  if  I  can  only  get  a  ride."  So  many  are  content  to  be  nominal 
^Christians,  and  go  along  with  great  loads  and  burdens ! 

The  three  Bonars,  John,  Horatio,  and  Andrew,  were  all 
preachers  at  the  same  time.  They  lived  to  be  eighty  years  of 
age.  One  said,  "  There  is  nothing  before  the  true  believer  that 
is  not  glorious."  Some  reporter  caught  it  and  sent  it  out.  and 
it  came  to  this  country  and  I  got  hold  of  it ;  and  it  opened  up 
a  flood  of  light  to  my  soul.  I  consulted  my  concordance,  and 
I  declare  I  almost  became  a  shouting  Methodist  before  I  got 
through.  I  found  that  my  garments  were  to  be  garments  of 
praise,  of  grace,  and  glory ;  my  song  was  to  be  the  song  of 
the  glorified  ;  my  society  was  to  be  the  society  of  those  who 
washed  their  robes  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  —  the  society  of 
the  purified.  This  body  was  to  be  fashioned  like  unto  His 
glorious  body,  and  I  found  many  other  glorious  things. 

"  Everything  glorious  ?  "  How  is  this  ?  Does  not  death 
intervene  between  us  and  the  glory?  My  friends,  were  we  not 
given  eternal  life?     If  I  have  eternal  life,  am  I  going  to  die? 


THE    DARK    VALLEY. 


295 


The  spirit  cannot  die.  I  shall  move  out  of  this  body  into  a 
better  one.  I  have  "  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens."  Why,  there's  nothing  to  fear 
about  death.  All  that  it  can  do  to  the  true  child  of  God  is  to 
hasten  him  on  to  glory.  I  believe  that  the  Twenty-third  Psalm 
is  more  misquoted  than  anything  else  in  the  Bible.  It  is  used 
in  all  the  Jewish  synagogues  ;  in  the  Latin  Church  ;  in  the  Greek 
Church ;  it  is  in  the  Church  of  England  service,  and  in  all  the 
Protestant  Churches,  and  many  a  nation  chants  it  at  the  burial 
of  the  dead,  and  many  an  army  has  gone  to  battle  shouting  it. 
All  through  the  Civil  War  there  was  nothing  known  better 
than  the  Twenty-third  Psalm.  And  yet  i'c  is  misquoted  more 
than  anything  else  in  the  Bible.  They  say,  "  Though  I  walk 
through  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death."  And  they 
emphasize  the  "  d-a-r-k  "  so  as  to  send  a  chill  down  your  back. 
The  word  "  dark  "  is  not  there  at  all.  It  reads :  "  Though  I 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,"  etc.  Did 
you  ever  see  a  shadow  in  the  dark?  You  have  got  to  have 
light  to  find  a  shadow.  All  death  can  do  to  the  true  believer  is 
to  throw  a  shadow  across  his  path.  Don't  be  afraid  of  your 
shadow. 

There's  a  class  of  people  to-day  very  much  afraid  of  being 
called  "  peculiar."  They  hesitate  to  work  for  Christ  because 
they  will  be  considered  peculiar.  You  will  notice  that  when 
God  has  some  work  to  do.  He  generally  calls  peculiar  people 
to  do  it.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Moses  was  a  very  peculiar  man 
in  his  day,  and  those  proud  Egyptians  said  he  was  the  biggest 
fool  in  Egypt  when  he  turned  his  back  on  the  gilded  palaces  of 
Pharaoh  and  identified  himself  with  the  slaves,  the  Hebrews. 

If  you  had  dropped  down  in  the  old  world  and  asked  some- 
body what  sort  of  a  man  Enocli  was,  they  would  have  said  he 
was  a  remarkably  good  man  but  peculiar ;  a  very  narrow- 
minded  man.  If  there's  a  progressive  euchre  party,  you  can't 
find  any  of  the  Enoch  family  there.  If  there's  a  horse  race, 
and  the  whole  country  turns  out  to  see  it,  you  will  not  find 
Enoch  there.     He  wasn't  a  great  scholar,  or  a  great  scientist, 


296 


GIVING    THK    HKST    \VK    HAVE. 


and  we  do  not  read  that  he  was  a  great  general  or  a  great 
geologist.  In  fact,  he  wasn't  anything  that  the  world  usually 
calls  great;  there's  nothing  of  that  kind  recorded  about  Enoch. 
But  he  "  walked  with  God  ''  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  years, 
and  he  was  not  a  very  peculiar  mortal ;  for  "  God  took  him." 
He  has  been  gone  for  four  thousand  years,  and  if  he  shone  so 
bright  down  here  in  this  world,  how  much  brighter  must  he 
shine  in  heaven.  I  suppose  if  you  had  asked  the  men  in 
Elijah's  time  what  kind  of  a  man  Elijah  was,  they  would  have 
said,  "  He  is  a  very  good  man,  but  Oh!  so  peculiar."  But  for 
service  and  power,  he  was  worth  the  whole  7,000  who  bowed 
the  knees  to  Baal. 

There's  another  class  of  people  who  seem  to  think  that  a 
few  ministers  and  church  officers  must  do  all  the  work,  and  the 
rank  and  file  of  the  church  arc  to  be  "  looked  after  "  and  cared 
for.  A  great  many  look  upon  the  church  as  a  hospital,  in  which 
they  are  to  be  taken  care  of,  and  somebody  is  to  wait  upon 
them  all  the  while.  Now,  that  isn't  true.  You've  got  to  get 
up  and  do  some  of  the  work  of  the  church  yourself. 

Every  man  and  woman  can  have  a  hand  in  this  work,  if  they 
will.  In  the  twcnty-lifth  chapter  of  Exodus  we  read,  "  And 
the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying.  Speak  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  that  they  bring  me  an  olTering :  of  every  man  that  giveth 
it  willingly  with  his  heart  ye  shall  take  my  offering.  And  this  is 
the  offering  which  ye  shall  take  of  them  :  gold,  and  silver,  and 
brass,  and  blue,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  fine  linen,  and 
goats'  hair."  If  they  had  no  gold  to  bring  then  they  must  bring 
silver ;  and  if  they  had  neither  gold  nor  silver,  they  must  bring 
brass,  —  just  as  acceptable  to  God  as  gold,  if  that  was  the  best 
they  had.  God  wants  heart-service,  and  that  which  man  thinks 
the  most  of.  He  gave  the  best  He  had,  and  He  wants  you  and 
me  to  do  the  same  in  return.  "  Blue,  and  purple,  and  scarlet, 
and  fine  linen,  and  goats'  hair."  I've  always  been  glad  the 
"  goats'  hair  "  was  added  there.  A  great  many  of  us  are  poor, 
so  poor  that  we  can't  give  "  blue,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and 
fine  linen,"  but  we  can  find  a  few  goat  hairs.     They  were  just 


SERVICE    DUE    TO    GOD.  297 

as  acceptable  to  God  as  a  bag  of  gold.  What  a  power  Chris- 
tianity would  be  if  every  man  and  women  did  what  they  could. 
Now,  my  friends,  do  you  see  the  wisdom  in  this?  I  have 
heard  people  say,  "  If  I  were  as  rich  as  that  milHonaire  I  would 
build  a  church  myself."  Would  you?  Well,  you  would  kill 
it.  If  I  was  worth  millions  I  wouldn-'t  build  churches  for  God, 
nor  endow  a  church,  but  I  would  work  for  God.  I  have  seen 
a  great  many  churches  heavily  endowed,  and  I  have  known 
many  churches  in  the  Old  World,  twice  dead,  all  gone  sound 
to  sleep. 

God  could  build  a  magnificent  church  in  Heaven,  and  drop 
it  down  here  to  earth  all  finished  if  He  wanted  to.  He  could 
send  angels  down  here  to  build  it  without  any  of  our  help.  He 
could  do  it,  but  He  wants  us  to  have  a  hand  in  it ;  He  wants  us 
to  get  the  blessing.  A  man  saw  a  little  boot-black  putting  an 
extra  shine  on  his  own  boots,  and  he  said : 

"  What  are  you  doing  there,  my  boy  ?  Why  are  you  taking 
so  much  pains  to  black  your  own  boots?  " 

"  I  am  going  up  to  Exeter  Hall ;  there's  a  meeting  for 
foreign  missions  up  there,  and  I'm  going,"  the  boy  said. 

"  What  takes  you  up  there  ?  Are  you  interested  in  foreign 
missions?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;  I  gave  a  penny  to  foreign  missions  last  year,  and 
I  am  going  to  see  what  they  have  done  with  it." 

Every  man  is  to  have  something  to  do  ;  and  if  a  man  is  to  be 
a  co-worker  with  God,  it  is  a  privilege  to  help  build  up  His 
kingdom.  Keep  that  in  mind.  The  more  the  heart  gives,  the 
more  it  will  receive  from  on  high.  God's  law  is  service.  If 
you've  got  money,  give  it ;  if  you've  got  talents,  give  them.  If 
you  have  got  a  voice,  give  it,  and  let  no  man  say  that  he  can  do 
nothing.  You  say :  "  I  am  so  weak."  W^hy  not  be  honest 
and  say,  "  I  am  so  lazy  !  " 

I  remember  some  years  ago  some  one  sent  me  a  tract 
entitled,  "  Wliat  is  That  in  Thine  Hand?"  I  threw  it  aside 
for  the  time,  because  I  was  very  busy,  but  the  title  haunted  me, 
and  I  picked  up  the  tract  and  read  it.     The  writer  went  on  to 


298 


THE    WONDER-WORKING    ROD. 


say  that  when  the  Lord  called  Moses,  Moses  thought  the  Al- 
mighty had  made  a  mistake ;  that  the  Lord  had  called  the 
wrong  one.  You  know  how  Moses  went  on  and  excused  him- 
self on  the  ground  that  he  wasn't  eloquent,  and  he  wasn't  this 
or  that,  and  they  wouldn't  believe  that  he  had  been  sent.  At 
last  the  Lord  said  : 

"  What  is  that  in  thine  hand?  " 

Moses  had  in  his  hand  an  old  dried-up  stick.  He  might 
have  got  a  hundred  better  ones  if  he  had  looked  around ;  but 
he  took  the  first  one  he  came  across  and  carried  it  around 
Horeb.  and  yet  with  that  he  was  to  deliver  the  children  of 
Israel.  Was  there  anything  more  contemptible  in  all  the  world 
than  that  old  dried-up  stick  ?  Suppose  that  Moses  on  his  way 
down  to  Egypt  had  met  one  of  these  modern  free-thinkers, 
and  he  had  asked  : 

"  Moses,  where  are  you  going?" 

"  Down  to  Egypt." 

"What  business  takes  you  down  there?" 

"  I  am  going  to  demand  of  Pharaoh  to  let  the  children  of 
Israel  go  free." 

"  But  Moses,  do  you  know  that  Pharaoh  is  one  of  the 
mightiest  monarchs  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ?  Do  you  tell  me 
that  you  are  going  down  there  to  free  those  three  millions  of 
slaves  ?     How  are  you  going  to  do  it  ?  " 

"  With  this  stick." 

When  we  had  three  millions  of  slaves  in  this  country,  it 
took  the  lives  of  about  half  a  million  of  men  on  both  sides,  a 
mint  of  money,  and  four  years  of  hard  fighting,  to  set  them  free  ; 
how  was  one  man  going  to  set  the  children  of  Israel  free  that 
had  nothing  but  an  old  stick  to  do  it  with,  that  you  would  have 
thought  good  for  nothing,  and  that  he  could  not  make  any 
good  use  of?  But  when  God  had  linked  Himself  with  that  rod, 
it  did  its  work  well.  When  he  went  into  the  presence  of 
Pharaoh  and  demanded  of  him  that  all  the  children  of  Israel 
should  go  free,  Moses'  stick  became  a  serpent,  and  Pharaoh 
said  : 


USING    THE    WEAPONS    WE    HAVE. 


299 


'■  Then  your  God  is  a  god  of  that  stick ;  well,  you  get  out  of 
here.  I  don't  know  anything  about  a  god  of  that  stick,  and  I 
won't  obey  Him." 

But  Moses  stretched  out  that  stick  over  the  waters  of  Egypt, 
and  turned  them  into  blood.  That  stick  became  famous  in 
Moses'  hands.  All  he  had  to  do  was  to  stretch  it  out,  and 
plagues  came  over  the  land.     Finally  Pharaoh  said  : 

"  You  get  out  of  Egypt  as  quick  as  you  can." 

When  Moses  came  to  the  Red  Sea,  all  he  had  to  do  was  to 
pass  that  stick  over  the  waters,  and  they  were  divided  so  that  the 
people  could  pass  through  the  sea  dry-shod.  He  struck  the 
flinty  rock  in  the  desert  with  it,  and  out  f  owed  water  for  the 
people  to  drink.  If  God  could  use  that  dried-up  stick,  he  can 
use  you  and  me,  though  some  of  us  are  pretty  dry,  too.  God 
can  use  us  if  we  are  willing  to  be  used.  It  wasn't  Moses  or 
the  rod ;  it  was  the  power  of  God  in  Moses,  and  the  power  of 
God  in  the  rod  that  did  the  work.  What  is  that  in  thine  hand  ? 
Take  what  you  have  got,  not  what  you  haven't  got. 

When  they  wanted  to  take  Jericho,  w'hat  did  they  do  it  with  ? 
Rams'  horns.  You  wouldn't  like  to  see  your  ministers  going 
around  with  rams'  horns,  would  you?  What  a  comical  sight 
it  must  have  been  to  the  people  of  Jericho,  to  see  six  thousand 
men  going  around  blowing  rams'  horns.  You  laugh.  Of 
course  they  laughed ;  but  I  tell  you  the  rams'  horns  did  their 
work  pretty  well.  The  wall  came  tumbling  down.  They  took 
Jericho,  and  that  victorious  army  marched  right  through  the 
land.  Some  of  us  may  be  as  crooked  as  rams'  horns,  too ;  but 
the  Lord  will  use  us  if  we  are  willing  to  be  used.  I  don't  be- 
lieve they  had  any  silver  trumpets  in  those  days  ;  they  couldn't 
get  them,  and  so  they  got  rams'  horns  ;  they  had  plenty  of  rams' 
horns,  and  they  took  them  and  went  to  blowing  them.  Take 
what  you  have  got  and  use  that. 

Look  again  when  Samson  went  out  to  meet  a  thousand  of 
the  Philistines.  What  did  he  take?  The  jawbone  of  an  ass. 
You  wouldn't  like  to  take  the  jawbone  of  an  ass  ;  you  w-ould 
want  a  Winchester  rifle  or  a  Damascus  blade.     The  Philis- 


300 


WITH     LAMPS    AND    PITCHKRS. 


tines  wouldn't  let  Samson  have  any  weapons,  and  they  thought 
he  couldn't  get  any ;  but  he  got  hold  of  the  jawbone  of  an  ass, 
and  with  it  he  slew  a  thousand  men.  Do  you  know  of  anything 
weaker  as  a  weapon  than  the  jawl)one  of  an  ass?  Yet  with  it 
Samson  did  the  work. 

Look  at  Gideon.  Gideon  had  only  thirty-two  thousand 
men  and  Alidian  had  135.000.  103.000  more  than  Gideon  had. 
Yet  the  Lord  said,  "  Gideon,  you  have  got  too  many  men." 
So  Gideon  issued  a  proclamation  to  every  man  that  was  fearful, 
and  to  every  man  that  was  afraid,  saying  they  could  go  back  to 
the  rear;  and  22,000  men  wheeled  right  out  of  line  and  went 
back.  I  can  see  poor  Gideon  as  some  of  his  generals,  scared  to 
death,  flock  around  him  and  say:  "  O  Gideon,  you  have  made 
a  big  mistake.  Look  at  that ;  two-thirds  of  the  people  are 
going."  I  think  it  would  be  a  pretty  good  thing  if  we  could 
have  a  sifting  of  the  church  and  get  all  the  doubters  back  to  the 
rear.  Gideon  still  had  ten  thousand  men  ;  but  the  Lord  said 
to  him,  "  You  have  got  too  many  yet;  take  them  down  to  the 
brook,  and  every  man  that  lies  down  to  drink,  leave  him  there ; 
but  every  man  that  laps  up  the  water  as  if  he  was  full  of  fire  and 
enthusiasm,  let  him  go  along  with  you."  Nine  thousand  seven 
hundred  of  them  lay  down  to  drink,  and  that  was  the  last  that 
was  seen  of  the  whole  lot  of  them.  Gideon  had  now  only  300 
men  left,  and  the  only  weapons  he  had  were  pitchers,  and  lamps 
in  the  pitchers !  Wasn't  it  the  height  of  madness  for  a  man  to 
go  up  against  an  army  of  135,000  with  300  men  armed  only 
with  pitchers  and  lamps?  Yes,  that  was  all  Gideon  had  ;  but  he 
went  as  the  Lord  directed  him,  with  the  cry  of  "  The  sword  of 
the  Lord  and  of  Gideon !  "  and  the  Midianites  fell  like  chafif  be- 
ford  the  wind  ;  Gideon  took  the  whole  crowd  of  them.  Aren't 
you  worth  as  much  as  a  pitcher? 

It  is  very  hard  to  make  people  think  you  are  after  them ; 
they  always  think  that  you  are  after  somebody  else.  Every 
man  or  woman  ought  to  have  a  hand  in  this  work.  You  don't 
want  to  be  mere  boarders.  Go  into  a  boarding-house,  and  you 
can  always  tell  who  the  boarders  are  and  who  the  guests  are. 


THE    SHEPHERDS    SLING. 


301 


The  guests  sit  in  the  parlor,  and  take  no  interest  in  family  af- 
fairs ;  but  a  boy  comes  rollicking  down  stairs,  goes  through 
the  parlor  and  sitting-room,  looks  at  the  mail,  and  makes  him- 
self at  home  generally.  He  is  a  child  of  the  house.  The 
trouble  with  the  church  is  that  we  have  got  too  many  boarders 
and  too  many  guests,  who  do  not  t^ike  any  interest  in  the 
Lord's  work. 

There  isn't  a  child  so  young,  nor  a  disciple  so  weak,  but  that 
they  can  do  something  if  they  will.  You  can  get  a  sling  with 
five  stones  and  go  out  against  some  Goliath.  Shamgar  w^as 
out  in  the  field  ploughing  with  his  oxen,  and  a  man  came  along 
and  said,  "  Shamgar,  run  for  your  life !  There  are  six  hun- 
dred Philistines  coming."  But  Shamgar  took  his  ox  goad  and 
slew  the  whole  lot  of  them.  I  wonder  what  armies  would  be 
if  they  only  had  slings  and  ox  goads  for  weapons.  Saul  came 
pretty  near  getting  David  into  trouble ;  he  wanted  David  to 
put  on  his  armor  to  go  against  the  giant.  Saul  was  head  and 
shoulders  above  everybody  else  in  the  army,  and  there  was  too 
much  room  in  the  armor  for  David  the  stripling.  But  he 
obeyed  the  king,  and  put  the  armor  on.  and  found  that  he  could 
almost  turn  a  somersault  in  it.  So  David  said  :  "  Take  it  ofi." 
Like  most  boys,  he  had  a  sling,  and  he  said  : 

"  Let  me  take  my  sling.     I  am  used  to  that." 

"  What,"  they  exclaimed,  "  a  sling  to  meet  the  giant  of 
Gath !  Why,  he  has  a  helmet,  and  a  sword,  and  a  shield,  and 
an  armor-bearer !  " 

"  Well,  I  will  only  take  my  sling,"  said  David.  I  can 
imagine  how  they  made  all  manner  of  sport  of  him. 

So  he  went  to  the  brook,  and  picked  up  five  smooth  stones. 
God  uses  weak  things ;  God  uses  little  things !  You  and  I 
would  have  wanted  some  good  big  rocks  to  have  thrown  at 
Goliath ;  but  David  got  a  few  little  smooth  stones,  and  went  to 
meet  his  enemy.     The  giant  came  out  full  of  wrath,  saying: 

"  Am  I  a  dog  that  thou  comest  to  me  with  staves  ?  " 

"  You  come  with  a  helmet,"  David  said,  "  and  a  shield,  and 
an  armor-bearer.     I  come  in  the  name  of  the  God  of  Israel." 
19 


302 


WORK    FOR    EACH    ONE    OF    US. 


And  he  put  one  hand  behind  him  and  raised  the  other  right 
up  and  threw  his  sHng-,  and  the  giant  fell  dead  ;  and  he  rushed 
up  to  him,  took  his  sword  from  him  and  eut  ofi  his  head,  and 
with  the  sword  and  the  giant's  head  in  his  hand  he  went  for- 
ward to  the  king.  Then  Saul  called  to  his  cheering  army, 
"  Make  haste,  rush  upon  them  !  "  And  it  was  not  long  be- 
fore the  whole  camp  of  Philistines  were  falling  before  the 
enemy.  So  God  used  the  man  who  was  willing  to  be  used. 
David  could  take  good  aim  with  his  sling,  because  he  was  in 
good  practice.  What  you  and  I  want  to  do  is  to  get  into  prac- 
tice with  the  weapon  we  have. 

Dorcas  had  only  a  needle ;  but  she  understood  how  to  use 
it,  and  she  set  it  going,  and  consecrated  it  to  the  service  of  God. 
I  believe  she  set  more  needles  in  motion  than  modern  sewing 
machines  have.  Look  at  the  Dorcas  societies  that  have  been 
formed !  Get  your  needle  consecrated,  and  make  up  your 
minds  that  you  will  sew  for  the  poor.  Go  and  hunt  up  some 
poor  families,  and  make  up  garments  and  take  them  to  them. 
Make  up  your  mind  you  will  have  a  hand  in  the  Lord's  work; 
that  you  will  do  something,  and  do  it  right  away.  I  believe 
that  when  God  laid  out  your  life  and  mine  He  laid  out  work 
for  each  one  of  us.  It  is  a  false  idea  that  if  you  don't  do  your 
work  some  one  else  will  do  it  for  you.  There  is  not  a  man  on 
earth  who  can  do  D.  L.  Moody's  work ;  if  I  don't  do  it,  it  will 
be  left  undone ;  I  must  answer  for  it  when  I  stand  before  God's 
judgment  seat. 

Never  call  anything  you  do  for  God  small.  Don't  look 
down  upon  it.  People  say,  "  I  will  do  what  I  can."  That  is 
just  what  you  don't  do.  God  don't  want  you  to  do  what  you 
can't,  but  He  wants  you  to  do  what  you  can.  I  was  a  guest 
in  a  family  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  when  I  arrived  on 
Saturday  night  I  was  introduced  to  a  young  lady,  a  member  of 
the  family.  Next  morning,  when  1  came  down  into  the  draw- 
ing-room, she  was  the  first  member  of  the  family  to  greet  me. 
We  talked  together,  and  she  said  she  had  a  class  in  a  mission 
school. 


A    TEACHER'S    MISTAKE.  3O3 

"  What  time  do  you  have  your  class  ?  " 

'*  At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon." 

That  afternoon  I  saw  her  right  in  front  of  me  at  the  meeting. 
After  we  had  returned  to  the  house,  I  said  to  her : 

"  I  noticed  you  were  at  the  meeting  this  afternoon." 

"  Oh,  yes." 

"  I  thought  you  said  you  had  a  class  in  a  mission  school  ?  " 

"  So  I  did." 

"  Did  you  get  anyone  to  take  your  class  for  you  ?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  tell  the  superintendent  you  were  not  going  to  be 
there?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Did  you  tell  your  class  you  wasn't  going  to  be  there?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

"  How  do  you  know  that  any  one  taught  them  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  that  any  one  taught  them,  for  I  noticed  that 
most  of  the  teachers  were  at  the  meeting." 

"  Well,  is  that  the  way  you  do  the  Lord's  work?  " 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  have  only  five  boys  in  my  class,  and  I 
thought  it  wouldn't  make  any  difference." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  If  you  look  upon  the  Lord's  work  in  that 
way,  you  are  making  a  mistake." 

Who  knows  but  in  that  class  of  little  boys  there  might  have 
been  a  John  Knox,  or  a  Wesley  :  there  might  have  been  a  John 
Bunyan,  or  a  Martin  Luther.  One  little  boy  may  become  the 
leader  of  a  Reformation ;  another  boy  may  become  a  ^^'hite- 
field.  and  may  turn  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  to  the 
Lord.  Do  you  suppose  Mrs.  Wesley  knew  what  she  was  doing 
when  she  trained  Charles  and  John  for  the  Lord's  work?  For 
a  century,  I  honestly  believe,  no  woman  has  ever  done  more 
than  that  woman  did  in  training  those  two  boys.  There  are 
millions  of  people  who  hear  the  gospel  from  the  lips  of  Metho- 
dist ministers  every  week.  There  is  not  a  denomination  that 
hasn't  men  in  its  pulpits  that  have  been  converted  at  Methodist 
altars.     Charles  Spurgeon  experienced  his  change  of  heart  at 


304 


THREE    GREAT    WORKERS. 


a  Methodist  altar,  and  what  a  vast  multitude  have  been  going 
up  to  heaven  because  of  this  good  man's  work.  Mothers, 
don't  consider  your  work  small.  You  can't  tell  how  much 
you  are  accomplishing. 

Do  you  think  there  was  anybody  in  Bunyan's  day  who 
accomplished  so  much  for  God  as  he?  It  was  a  good  and 
great  work  to  win  the  life  of  that  Bedford  tinker  to  Jesus 
Christ.  All  honor  to  that  man  in  Maine  who  went  to  jail 
and  found  Francis  Murphy  and  led  him  into  the  kingdom  of 
God !  Do  you  think  that  man  didn't  do  a  grand  work,  a  great 
service,  who  put  his  hand  on  the  shoulders  of  John  B.  Gough 
years  ago  and  saved  him  ? 

And  so  I  appeal  to  all.  Win  a  soul  to  Jesus  Christ  now. 
A  kind  word  and  a  gentle  act  will  win  for  Him.  Christ  died 
that  He  might  make  us  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  in  all  good 
works. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

THE  COMPASSION  OF  CHRIST. 

An  Incident  of  the  Civil  War — Sentenced  to  Death  for  Sleeping  at 
His  Post  —  A  Little  Girl's  Faith  in  Abraham  Lincoln  —  The 
President's  Compassion  —  "  Mother  Will  Come  "  —  How  Mr. 
Moody's  Heart  was  Softened  —  Experiences  Among  the  Poor  — 
"  Little  Adelaide  "  —  Sad  Scene  in  a  Drunkard's  Home  —  "  Can't 
You  Help  Me  Find  a  Place  to  Bury  Her?"  —  No  Money  to  Buy 
a  Shroud  —  "  Papa,  Suppose  I  Were  Drowned  "  —  Praying  for  a 
Tender  Heart  —  An  Unmarked  Grave  in  the  Potter's  Field  —  How 
Mr.  Moody  Bought  a  Burial  Lot  for  the  Poor  —  A  Remarkable 
Sequel  —  At  the  Grave  of  "  Emma"  —  The  Touch  of  a  Mother's 
Hand  —  "  Oh  Mother  !     Have  You  Come?  " 

DURING  the  Civil  War  I  remember  reading  of  a  young- 
man,  not  twenty  years  of  age,  who  was  court-martialed 
and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  The  story  was  this :  One 
night  his  comrade  was  going  on  picket  duty  and,  being  ill,  he 
was  excused  and  this  young  man  was  detailed  to  take  his  place. 
The  next  night  he  was  ordered  out  himself;  and,  having  been 
awake  two  nights,  and  not  being  used  to  it,  he  fell  asleep  at  his 
post,  and  for  the  offence  he  was  tried  and  sentenced  to  death. 
It  was  just  after  the  order  issued  by  the  President  that  no  more 
interference  should  be  allowed  in  cases  of  this  kind.  That  sort 
of  thing  had  become  too  frequent,  and  it  had  to  be  stopped. 

When  the  terrible  news  reached  his  father  and  mother  in 
Vermont  it  nearly  broke  their  hearts.  They  had  no  hope  that 
he  could  be  saved  by  anything  tliey  could  do.  r)Ut  they  had 
a  little  daughter  who  had  read  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
and  learned  how  he  loved  his  own  children,  and  she  said:  "  If 
Abraham  Lincoln  could  only  know  how  dearly  my  father  and 

(305) 


3o6 


A    ClllLDS    INTKRCKSSIUX. 


mother  love  my  brother  he  wouldn't  let  him  be  shot."  The 
little  girl  thought  this  over  and  made  up  her  mind  to  go  to 
Washington  and  see  the  President.  She  went  to  the  White 
House,  and  tlie  sentinel,  when  he  saw  her  imploring  looks, 
passed  her  in;  and  when  she  reached  the  door  and  told  the 
private  secretary  that  she  wanted  to  see  the  President  he  could 
not  refuse  her. 

When  she  entered  the  room  the  President  was  surrounded 
by  his  generals  and  counselors,  and  when  he  saw  the  little 
country  girl  he  asked  her  what  she  wanted.  The  little  maid 
told  her  sad,  simple  story  —  how  her  brother,  whom  her 
mother  and  father  loved  so  dearl} ,  had  been  sentenced  to  be 
shot;  how  they  were  mourning  for  him,  and  if  he  was  to  die  in 
that  way  it  would  break  their  hearts.  The  President's  heart 
was  touched  with  compassion,  and  he  immediately  sent  a  tele- 
gram revoking  the  sentence  and  giving  the  boy  a  furlough, 
so  that  he  could  go  home  and  see  his  father  and  mother. 

I  relate  this  just  to  show  how  Abraham  Lincoln's  great 
heart  was  moved  to  compassion  by  the  sorrow  of  that  father 
and  mother;  and  if  he  showed  so  nnich  tenderness  and  com- 
passion, do  you  not  think  the  Son  of  God  will  have  compassion 
upon  you,  sinner,  if  you  will  take  that  crushed,  bruised  heart 
to  Him?  He  will  heal  it.  Have  you  got  a  drunken  husband? 
Go  tell  Him.  Have  you  a  profligate  son?  Go  take  your  story 
to  Him,  and  He  will  comfort  you,  and  heal  your  sorrow. 

Once  when  I  was  returning  from  Europe  there  was  a 
young  ofificer  on  the  steamer  to  whom  I  felt  greatly  drawn, 
because  I  could  see  that  he  was  dying.  It  didn't  seem  to  him 
that  he  was  dying.  Death  is  very  deceitful.  He  was  joyous 
and  light-hearted.  He  would  talk  about  his  plans,  and  take 
out  his  guns,  and  tell  how  he  intended  to  go  hunting  when  he 
arrived;  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  would  never  live  to  see 
land.  By  and  by  he  grew  worse,  was  confined  to  his  bed,  and 
the  truth  came  to  him  that  death  was  near.  He  asked  a  friend 
to  write  a  telegram,  which  was  to  be  sent  to  his  mother  as  soon 
as  the  vessel  arrived.     It  read:     "  Mother,  I  am  very  sick. — 


THE    NEED    OF    SYMPATHY.  309 

Charlie."  "  But,"  said  some  one  to  him,  "  why  not  ask  her  in 
the  telegram  to  come?"  "Ah,"  he  repHed,  "Mother  will 
come."  He  knew  that  when  she  read  that  telegram  and 
learned  that  he  wanted  help  she  would  come.  It  was  the 
knowledge  of  his  need  that  would  bring  her.  So  Christ  is 
waiting  to  hear  our  need,  and  man's  need  bfings  out  the  help 
of  God.  The  real  trouble  is  that  men  don't  think  they  need 
Him. 

Some  time  ago  I  began  to  read  the  Bible  carefully  to  study 
Bible  characters.  I  read  through  the  four  Gospels,  and  my 
heart  was  moved.  When  I  look  over  an  audience  and  think 
of  the  wretchedness  and  misery  that  you  and  I  do  not  see,  that 
He  does  see,  I  think  I  can  understand  what  this  passage  means: 
"  When  he  saw  the  multiude,  he  was  moved  with  compassion." 
His  heart  went  out  towards  them. 

A  good  many  years  ago.  when  a  young  man,  I  was  fre- 
quently sent  for  to  attend  funerals.  One  day  I  was  called 
suddenly  to  attend  one,  and  I  learned  there  were  to  be  a  great 
many  young  men  and  boys  present  who  were  not  Christians. 
I  said,  this  is  my  opportunity.  I  will  give  them  a  Christlike 
sermon.  I  tried  to  find  one  of  Christ's  funeral  sermons,  but 
I  found  instead  that  He  broke  up  every  funeral  procession  He 
attended.  The  dead  could  not  be  dead  when  He  was  present. 
He  turned  sorrow  into  gladness,  darkness  into  light. 

What  we  ought  to  have  is  more  compassion  for  the  unfor- 
tunate, the  erring,  and  the  fallen.  How  many  times  I  have 
had  to  upbraid  myself  for  not  having  more  compassion.  I  be- 
lieve it  would  be  a  very  easy  thing  to  reach  the  unfortunate  and 
distressed  if  we  had  the  spirit  of  the  good  Samaritan.  People 
say,  "I  wish  I  had  it."  How  can  we  get  it?  Listen.  Sup- 
pose a  great  misfortune  has  overtaken  you,  wouldn't  you  like 
to  have  some  one  come  right  along  and  help  you?  Wouldn't 
you?  I  believe  there  is  not  a  man  or  woman,  I  don't  care  how 
rich  or  poor  they  may  be,  who  does  not  need,  at  some  hour  in 
their  lives,  a  little  human  sympathy,  a  little  ministration  of 
love,  or  helpful  words  from  somebody  else.     Each  heart  has 


■^lO  PUT  YOURSELF  IN  HIS  PLACE. 

its  own  bitterness,  each  one  has  his  own  trouble  and  sorrow. 
We  are  too  apt  to  think  that  others  do  not  need  or  care  for  our 
compassion. 

Now  if  you  want  to  get  the  spirit  of  compassion  just  think 
of  some  one  among  your  acquaintance  who  is  in  trouble,  — 
some  one  who  is  in  distress,  or  who  has  had  some  great  mis- 
fortune. And  who  has  not?  Then  imagine  that  their  trouble 
is  yours,  and  that  they  arc  in  your  place. 

I  have  told  the  following  story  many  times,  but  I  don't 
know  of  any  one  thing  in  all  my  life  that  helped  me  so  much 
to  get  into  sympathy  with  those  that  need  it.  I  used  always 
to  spend  my  summers  in  Chicago;  probably  fifteen  hundred  to 
two  thousand  children  w^re  in  my  Sunday-school,  and  very 
few  of  them  had  a  church  home.  When  sickness  or  death 
came  into  their  families  they  used  to  send  for  me.  When  the 
ministers  were  away  I  was  frequently  sent  for  from  other  parts 
of  the  city,  and  I  sometimes  attended  three  or  four  funerals  a 
day.  I  could  go  to  a  funeral  and  see  a  mother  walk  up  to  the 
coffin  of  her  loved  one,  and  hear  sobs  and  wails  of  anguish 
that  were  enough  to  break  a  heart  of  stone,  but  I  had  heard 
them  so  often  they  wouldn't  move  my  heart.  I  had  become 
hardened  to  them. 

One  day  my  wife  told  me  that  one  of  the  children  in  my 
Sunday-school  had  been  drowned.  I  took  my  little  girl,  four 
years  old,  and  started  for  the  home  of  the  drowned  child. 
When  I  got  there  some  workingmcn  and  women  had  dragged 
the  little  one's  body  from  the  water,  and  the  mother  sat  by  the 
dead  child,  stroking  her  hair,  as  the  water  was  dripping  down 
upon  the  floor.  It  was  her  first-born  child.  Little  Adelaide 
used  to  go  to  the  Chicago  River  and  gather  floating  wood  for 
the  fire.  That  day  she  had  gone  as  usual ;  she  saw  a  piece  of 
w^ood,  a  larger  stick  than  the  rest,  a  little  way  from  the  bank, 
and  in  stretching  out  her  hand  to  reach  it  she  slipped  and  fell 
into  the  water  and  was  drowned.  There  were  four  children 
in  the  room,  and  the  husband  sat  in  the  corner  —  drunk.  The 
mother  said,  between  her  sobs  and  tears: 


.       A    SKARCHING    QUESTION.  3 1  I 

"You  see  the  condition  my  husband  is  in.  1  have  had  to 
take  in  washing  to  get  a  Hving  for  my  children,  and  I  have  had 
to  care  for  him.  He  has  never  provided  for  us,  or  done  a  day's 
hard  work  in  five  years.  Adelaide  was  my  companion.  I 
have  no  money  to  buy  a  shroud  or  cofBn  for  her.  (3h,  I  wish 
you  could  help  me."  • 

I  laid  down  the  money  for  the  coffin  and  the  shroud.  Then 
she  said,  as  the  tears  rolled  down  her  face: 

"  Can  you  help  me  find  a  place  to  bury  her?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  said,  "  I  will  attend  to  that." 

I  made  a  memorandum  of  what  was  wanted,  and  I  did  it 
all  very  mechanically.  Then  I  took  my  litrle  child  by  the  hand 
and  started  out.  When  we  reached  the  street  my  little  girl 
said: 

"  Papa,  suppose  we  were  very  poor,  and  mamma  had  to 
wash  for  a  living,  and  I  had  to  go  to  the  river  to  get  sticks  to 
make  a  fire;  if  I  should  see  a  big  stick  and  should  try  to  get  it 
and  should  fall  into  the  water  and  get  drowned,  would  you 
feel  bad?  " 

"  Feel  bad!  Why,  my  child,  I  do  not  know  what  I  should 
do.  You  are  my  only  daughter,  and  if  you  were  taken  from 
me  I  think  it  would  break  my  heart,"  and  I  took  her  to  my 
bosom  and  kissed  her. 

''  Papa,"  she  said,  "  did  you  feel  bad  for  that  poor 
mother?  "  The  child  had  been  shocked  at  her  own  father. 
How  that  question  cut  me  to  the  heart.     I  could  not  speak. 

I  led  the  child  home,  then  I  went  into  my  room,  and  turned 
the  key  in  the  door.  I  walked  up  and  down  the  room  all  that 
day.  I  said  to  myself:  "  You  profess  to  be  a  disciple  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  represent  Him,  and  you  weritf  to' that  house  of 
mourning,  and  didn't  even  pray  with  that  poor  heart-broken 
woman,  and  you  left  her  there  with  a  drunken  husband."  I  got 
on  my  knees  and  asked  God  to  forgive  me,  and  to  give  me  a 
tender  heart,  that  if  I  ever  saw  people  in  trouble  I  might  sym- 
pathize with  them.  T  went  hnck  to  that  poor  woman's  house, 
and  read  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  and  I  told  the  mother 


312 


WEEPING    WITH     THOSE    WHO    WEEP, 


where  Adelaide  had  gone,  and  prayed  that  the  Lord  might 
heal  the  mother's  wounded  lieart.  We  fastened  the  lid  of  the 
cofifin,  got  a  carriage  and  put  the  poor  mother  and  her  four 
little  children  into  it,  and,  last  of  all,  little  Adelaide's  coffin  was 
put  into  the  carriage  with  them.  The  husband  was  still  drunk 
and  did  not  realize  what  was  going  on.  The  cemetery  was 
seven  miles  away.  I  had  not  been  there  for  many  years.  I 
thought  niy  time  was  too  precious  to  go  there.  I  said,  "  I 
can't  let  that  mother  go  alone  and  bury  her  child,"  and  I  rode 
the  seven  miles  and  comforted  her  all  I  could.  I  could  weep 
with  her  then.  "  Suppose  it  was  my  child!  "  was  the  thought 
that  kept  coming  into  my  mind. 

We  buried  Adelaide  in  the  Potter's  Field.  We  had  no 
sooner  lowered  her  body  into  the  grave  than  we  were  ordered 
off  the  place.  As  the  mother  tore  herself  away  she  turned  and 
looked  towards  the  little  grave,  and  moaned: 

"  I  haven't  always  been  able  to  pay  my  rent,  and  I  have 
lived  among  strangers  all  my  life.  I  have  always  thought  that 
was  hard,  and  Oh.  it  is  hard!  But  it  is  harder  to  bury  my 
Adelaide  here,  to  leave  her  here  in  an  unmarked  grave  in  the 
Potter's  Field.  I  am  afraid  I  shall  not  know  where  she  is 
laid." 

I  thought  it  would  be  very  hard  for  me  to  lay  my  little  girl 
in  a  pauper's  grave.  I  said  to  myself,  "  I  will  never  bury  a 
child  in  a  pauper's  grave  again  as  long  as  I  live." 

On  the  next  Sunday  I  told  the  story  before  my  Sunday- 
school,  and,  although  they  were  all  poor  children,  wc  raised 
money  and  bought  a  lot  of  our  own  in  which  a  hundred  chil- 
dren could  be  buried.  Before  I  could  get  the  deed  made  out 
another  heart-broken  mother  came  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  my  little  girl  died  to-day.  Can  I  bury  her 
in  that  lot?" 

"  Did  she  belong  to  our  school?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Are  you  poor?  ' 

"  Yes." 


^»  ft 


thp:   little  craves.  315 

"  You  have  no  lot?  " 

"  No,  sir  " 

She  asked  me  if  I  would  go  to  the  funeral,  and  say  a  few 
words,  and  bury  her.  I  said  I  would.  I  well  remember  the 
first  burial  in  that  lot.  The  little  grave  was  dug  under  an 
oak  tree,  and  when  we  came  to  lay  the  child  in  it  I  asked  the 
mother: 

"What  was  the  name  of  your  little  girl?" 

"  Emma,"  she  said. 

That  was  the  name  of  my  own  little  girl,  my  only  daughter. 
Do  you  think  I  could  not  grieve,  that  I  could  not  weep  and 
sympathize? 

In  a  little  while  another  mother  came.  Her  little  boy  had 
died,  and  she  wanted  to  bury  him  in  that  lot.  We  made  a 
grave  close  to  Emma's  grave.  After  making  a  few  remarks,  I 
turned  to  the  mother  and  said: 

"  What  was  the  name  of  your  boy?  " 

"  Willie,"  she  said. 

That  was  the  name  of  my  only  boy  at  that  time.  So 
strange  that  the  first  two  little  bodies  let  down  into  those 
graves  should  bear  the  names  of  my  two  dear  ones.  Do  you 
think  I  could  not  weep  with  that  mother,  that  I  did  not  have 
compassion,  and  that  my  heart  did  not  ache  for  her? 

Soon  after,  I  went  to  Europe.  I  was  gone  a  year  and  a 
half,  and  when  I  returned  to  Chicago,  one  of  the  first  things 
I  did  was  to  go  to  that  cemetery.  The  lot  was  filled  with  little 
graves.  I  have  often  said  that  I  should  like  to  be  buried  there 
with  those  little  ones,  and  when  my  Master  comes,  and  they 
rise  to  meet  Him,  I  should  like  to  go  up  with  them.  What  we 
want  is  a  heart  full  of  compassion  for  those  that  need  comfort. 
Have  you  got  compassion  yourself?  Don't  you  think  there's 
need  of  it?     Ought  we  not  to  cultivate  it? 

During  the  Civil  War  a  mother  received  news  that  her  boy 
had  been  wounded  in  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness,  and  she 
started  at  once  for  the  front.  Of  course  a  mother  would  go. 
An  order  had  been  issued  that  no  woman  would  be  allowed 


3l6  'fHE    TOUCH    OF    A    MOTHER'S    HAND. 

within  the  lines,  but  she  got  through  in  some  way,  and  found 
her  way  to  the  held  hospital.  At  last  she  found  the  ward  her 
boy  was  in.  She  went  to  the  doctor  and  pleaded  that  she 
might  be  allowed  to  nurse  and  care  for  her  son.  The  doctor 
said: 

"  Aladani,  you  must  keep  away  from  him  for  the  present. 
He  is  in  a  critical  state;  the  excitement  would  be  too  great." 

"  I  have  come  six  hundred  miles,  Doctor,  to  see  my  boy," 
she  said.  "  I  cannot  wait."  And  she  begged  and  pleaded  so 
hard  that  finally  the  doctor  said: 

"  You  can  go  quietly  in  and  sit  down  by  his  side.  Don't 
speak  to  him  or  wake  him.  When  he  awakes  I  will  break  the 
news  to  him  gradually."  And  the  mother  stole  to  her  son's 
bedside.  When  she  saw  him  l}'ing  there  so  white  and  still, 
with  the  marks  of  suffering  upon  him,  she  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  to  lay  her  hand  gently  on  his  forehead.  And,  with- 
out opening  his  eyes,  he  cried  out: 

"Oh,  mother,  have  you  come?"  He  knew  the  touch  of 
his  mother's  hand. 

Oh,  my  friends,  that  was  earthly  compassion,  but  what  con- 
ception can  you  form  of  the  compassion  of  Jesus?  He  knows 
what  human  nature  is;  He  knows  what  poor,  weak,  frail 
mortals  we  are,  and  how  prone  we  are  to  sin.  He  will  have 
compassion  upon  you;  He  will  reach  out  His  tender  hand  and 
touch  you  as  ?Te  did  the  poor  leper.  You  will  know  the  touch 
of  His  loving  hand,  for  there  is  virtue  and  sympathy  in  it. 


CHAPTER    XIII.  « 

FAITH. 

Starving  with  Ten  Thousand  Dollars  in  the  Bank  —  A  Man  Who 
Cannot  be  Pleased  —  Living  on  Creeds  —  "The  Building  is  on 
Fire!"  —  Going  Out  of  the  Window  Head  First  —  "I  Never 
Thought  of  That"  — How  Mr.  Moody  Prayed  for  Faith  — The 
Two  Men  who  Planted  Trees  —  "I  Don't  Believe  In  Roots"  — 
The  Beggar  By  the  Wayside  —  "I've  Got  the  Money,  That's 
Enough  "  —  The  Little  Invalid  —  Spelling  with  Crackers  —  A 
Message  for  Grandpa  —  The  Box  of  Paints  —  "I  Don't  See  It, 
But  You've  Got  It"  —  Jumping  Into  His  Father's  Arms  —  "  I'se 
Afraid,  Papa"  —  A  Touching  Story  —  Waiting  and  Weeping  by 
His  Mother's  Grave  —  "  You've  Been  a  Good  While  Coming  "  — 
The  Prince  and  the  Condemned  Man. 

1   DON'T  believe  any  man  or  woman  amounts  to  much  who 
has  not  faith  in  somebody  or  something. 

People  say,  "  What  does  it  matter  whether  a  man  be- 
lieves or  not?  I  don't  see  the  importance  of  faith."  If  a  man 
should  tell  me  there  were  ten  thousand  dollars  deposited  in 
the  bank  in  my  name  and  I  didn't  believe  it,  and  was  starving 
for  the  want  of  it,  I  might  die  for  the  want  of  bread.  All  I 
have  got  to  do  is  to  go  to  the  bank  and  draw  the  money,  but 
I  get  no  benefit  from  the  fact  that  the  money  is  there  unless 
I  believe  and  act. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  three  elements  of  Saving  Faith 
are  Knowledge,  Assent,  and  Consent.  Suppose  I  want  to  go 
to  Europe.  I  know  there  are  plenty  of  ocean  steamers  that 
will  take  me  there  in  five  or  six  days.  That  is  knowledge. 
But  if  I  don't  go  on  board,  I  don't  get  to  Europe  any  quicker 
than  if  I  didn't  believe.  I  may  say  to  a  man,  "  Sir.  you  may 
have  this  book  for  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,"  and  he  assents  to  the 

(317) 


3i8 


THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    FAITH. 


fact  that  I  make  the  offer;  but  only  when  he  takes  the  book, 
and  appreciates  it,  does  it  become  his,  don't  you  see?  He  has 
got  to  act  upon  the  offer. 

"  Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen."  In  other  words,  faith  is  dependence  upon 
the  veracity  of  another.  Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to 
please  God.  Do  you  know  it  is  impossible  to  please  yourself 
without  faith?  If  a  man  should  rise  in  an  audience  and  say 
he  had  no  confidence  or  faith  in  me  I  could  do  nothing  to 
please  him;  it  would  be  utterly  impossible.  And  when  a  man 
says  he  has  no  faith  or  confidence  in  God  how  is  He  to  help 
that  man?     He  has  cut  himself  off  from  God. 

Faith  is  very  important.  If  business  men  lost  faith  in  each 
other,  how  quickly  all  business  would  be  brought  to  an  end. 
Some  people  think  when  we  talk  about  faith  in  Christ  that  it 
must  be  some  miraculous  faith,  and  that  they  must  wait  until 
it  comes  down  from  Heaven;  that  it  is  some  sort  of  a  shock 
which  is  to  come  upon  them. 

Faith  in  Christ  is  the  same  kind  of  faith  that  men  have  in 
one  another.  If  you  have  faith  in  a  man,  you  do  not  hesitate 
to  introduce  him  to  your  wife  and  daughter.  Isn't  faith  like 
that  the  foundation  of  all  social  intercourse?  Isn't  faith  the 
foundation  of  all  commerce?  Isn't  it  the  foundation  of  family 
life?  Isn't  it  the  real  foundation  of  everything  else?  It  is 
not  unreasonable  that  God  should  ask  us  to  ]mt  faith  in  Him. 
Mark  this,  I  do  not  ask  you  to  put  faith  in  Him  without  giving 
good  reasons. 

We  often  hear  people  ask,  "  You  do  not  think  it  makes 
any  difference  what  kind  of  a  belief  a  man  has.  if  he  is  only 
sincere  in  it,  do  you?  "  My  friends,  it  makes  all  the  difference 
in  the  world  whether  a  man  believes  a  truth  or  a  lie.  If  the 
devil  can  make  you  believe  a  lie,  and  that  you  are  going  to  be 
saved  because  you  are  sincere  in  your  belief  in  it.  that  is  all 
he  wants.  Do  not  suppose  for  a  moment  that  it  does  not 
make  any  difference  what  you  believe  in,  or  what  your  faith 
is,  if  you  are  only  sincere.     Do  not  be  deceived  by  that  terrible 


NOT    CREEDS,    BUT    CHRIST. 


319 


delusion,  which  is  one  of  the  devil's  lies.  The  faith  you  need, 
the  faith  that  saves,  is  fixed  upon  the  living  Christ. 

I  like  a  man  to  be  able  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that 
is  in  him.  Once  I  asked  a  man  what  he  believed,  and  he  said 
he  believed  what  his  church  believed.  I  asked  him  what  his 
church  believed,  and  he  said  he  supposed  hi^s  church  believed 
what  he  did ;  and  that  was  all  I  could  get  out  of  him. 

Now,  I  challenge  any  man  to  give  a  reason  why  he  should 
not  believe  God.  Give  a  reason,  will  you?  Has  God  ever 
broken  His  promise  to  man?  I  believe  there  would  be  a 
jubilee  in  hell  if  man  could  break  God's  word. 

It  is  not  belief  in  a  creed  only.  A  man  may  have  a  creed 
and  no  Christ.  A  creed  is  all  right  in  its  place,  but  if  you  live 
on  creeds  you  will  never  get  a  living  Christ.  Suppose  a  friend 
should  ask  me  to  dine  with  him.  To  reach  his  house  I  must 
go  in  the  street  leading  to  his  home;  but  if  I  do  not  go  into  his 
house  I  do  not  get  my  dinner.  Now  a  creed  is  the  road  or 
street;  very  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  if  it  does  not  take  us  to 
Christ  it  is  worthless.  God  does  not  ask  you  to  believe  a 
creed,  but  a  person,  and  that  person  is  Jesus  Christ. 

A  man  once  said  to  me,  "  The  doctrines  you  preach  are  the 
most  unreasonable  things  under  heaven.  You  preach  that 
people  are  saved  by  simply  believing.  You  cannot  make  any 
reasonable,  thinking  man  believe  that."  "  I  can."  "  Why," 
he  said,  "  how  is  a  man  going  to  be  afifected  by  what  he  be- 
lieves?" I  said,  "If  that  is  your  difficulty,  I  can  make  you 
believe  in  three  minutes.  You  say  a  man  is  not  affected  by 
what  he  believes;  that  it  does  not  afifect  his  course  of  action. 
Suppose  a  man  opens  that  door  and  shouts,  '  This  building  is 
on  fire! '  If  you  and  I  believe  it,  what  will  we  do?  Probably 
get  out  of  that  window  head  first."  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  I  never 
thought  of  that." 

How  are  you  going  to  get  faith?  If  I  could  sum  up  all 
the  time  I  have  prayed  for  faith  I  believe  it  would  amount  to 
months.  As  President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation I  used  to  call  the  young  men  together  to  pray,  and  we 


■120  THE    KUUNDATIUN    OF    JIOPE. 

prayed  for  faith,  faith,  faith.  We  would  close  up  the  Bible, 
and  pray  for  faith.  One  day  I  was  reading  the  Bible  and  I 
came  to  tlie  passage,  "  Faith  conieth  by.  hearing,  and  hearing 
by  the  word  of  God."  I  began  to  study  the  Bible,  and  faith 
has  been  coming  ever  since.  You  never  saw  a  man  who  feeds 
on  the  Bible  wdio  did  not  have  faith. 

It  does  not  require  much  faith  to  put  confidence  in  a  good 
man.  There  are  men  I  know  whom  I  could  not  help  but  be- 
lieve in.  Why?  Because  I  have  been  associated  with  them 
for  years,  and  I  never  knew  them  to  be  untrue.  It  does  not 
require  much  faith,  after  all,  to  believe  in  the  God  of  the  Bible; 
but  it  does  require  a  great  deal  of  faith  to  believe  in  yourself. 
Let  us  keep  in  mind  that  if  you  take  the  Bible  and  study  it  you 
will  have  faith,  and  that  faith  will  keep  coming. 

Now,  you  and  I  and  every  Christian  worker  have  been 
called  to  work  for  Christ.  Behind  you  is  your  faithful  God, 
and  He  cannot  fail.  If  you  will  hand  things  over  to  Christ, 
and  if  you  will  count  upon  God  at  your  back,  it  docs  not 
matter  what  happens,  —  your  heart  will  be  at  rest. 

Some  people  say  they  don't  see  the  importance  of  faith. 
Faith  is  what  a  foundation  is  to  a  building.  If  you  build  with- 
out a  good  foundation  the  house  will  soon  have  to  be  taken 
dow^n.  The  man  who  has  not  a  good  foundation  for  his  hope 
is  like  a  man  who  builds  a  house  on  the  sand.  WMicn  the  test- 
ing time  comes,  down  comes  the  house.  So  witli  the  man 
who  has  not  a  good  hope  in  Christ,  —  his  house  comes  down. 
That  is  the  trouble.     People  haven't  a  good,  grand  hope. 

Suppose  I  hire  two  men  to  set  out  trees,  and  after  a  day  or 
two  I  go  out  to  see  how  they  are  getting  along.  I  find  that 
one  man  has  set  out  a  hundred  trees  and  the  other  only  ten. 
I  say: 

"  Look  here,  what  does  this  mean?  That  man  has  set  out 
a  hundred  trees,  and  you  have  set  out  only  ten.  What  does  it 
mean?  " 

"  Yes,  but  he  has  cut  off  all  the  roots  and  just  stuck  the 
tops  into  the  ground." 


THE    RIGHT    KIND    OF    FAITH.  32I 

I  go  to  the  Other  man  and  say: 

"  What  does  this  mean  ?  Why  have  you  planted  all  these 
trees  without  roots  ?  " 

"  I  don't  believe  in  roots,  they  are  of  no  account.  My  trees 
look  just  as  well  as  his." 

But  when  the  sun  blazes  upon  the  trees  they  all  wither 
and  die.  That's  the  condition  of  men  without  faith.  Faith  is 
the  root  of  the  tree,  and  what  we  want  is  to  be  firmly  grounded 
in  the  Bible,  and  when  the  storms  come  we  are  secure. 

People  say  they  haven't  enough  faith.  I  was  told  in  Scot- 
land of  a  lady  who  was  introduced  to  a  minister  as  a  woman 
of  "  great  faith."  She  said,  "  No,  I  am  a  woman  of  little  faith, 
but  I  have  a  great  God."  We  talk  about  not  having  enough 
faith.     But  have  you  got  faith  in  the  living  Christ? 

People  say,  "  If  you  have  the  right  kind  of  faith."  Any 
faith  that  will  bring  you  to  Christ  is  the  right  kind.  Have  you 
a  Christ  who  has  saved  you  and  is  keeping  you  day  by  day? 
Have  faith  in  the  living  God,  not  in  the  dried  up  creed  of  some 
church,  —  the  Protestant  Church,  the  Catholic  Church,  the 
Jewish  Church.  Not  all  these  can  save  you.  The  churches 
are  like  Moses  lifting  up  the  pole  with  the  brazen  serpent. 
You  must  have  faith  in  Christ. 

I  once  heard  an  Englishman  use  this  illustration :  A 
beggar  sat  daily  by  the  w^ayside,  and  a  gentleman  who  used  to 
pass  by  would  often  give  him  a  shilling.  One  day  as  he  went 
by  and  tossed  out  his  shilling  the  man  said : 

"  I  do  not  need  your  money.  I  am  not  a  beggar.  My 
begging  days  are  over.  A  man  came  by  last  night  and  gave 
me  a  thousand  pounds." 

"  How  did  he  give  it  to  you?  " 

"  He  just  put  it  in  my  hands." 

"  How  do  you  know  it  was  good  money? " 

"  Why,  I  have  had  it  tested.     I  have  put  it  in  the  bank." 

"  Did  he  put  it  in  your  right  hand  or  left?  " 

"  Why?  What  do  I  care  whether  he  put  it  in  my  right 
hand  or  left?     Pve  got  the  money,  and  that's  enough." 


^22  A    CHILD'S    CONFIDENCE. 

A  gentleman  liad  a  little  granddaughter  who  was  taken  ill 
with  a  liglit  attack  of  scarlet  fever  and  was  placed  in  quaran- 
tine away  from  the  rest  of  the  famil}-.  And  the  old  grand- 
father used  to  go  up  every  night  to  see  his  grandchild  and  have 
a  talk  with  her.  Once  when  he  entered  the  room  she  took  him 
into  the  corner.  She  had  some  little  crackers  made  in  the 
shape  of  letters,  and  with  tliese  she  had  spelled  out  these 
words:  "  Grandpa,  I  want  a  box  of  paints."  The  next  night 
when  he  came  home  he  left  his  overcoat  with  the  box  of  paints 
in  it  down  stairs.  She  didn't  seem  to  be  much  disturbed,  but 
she  said: 

"  Grandpapa,  I  thank  you  for  the  box  of  paints.  I  haven't 
seen  it,  but  I  know  you've  got  it." 

The  old  grandfather  said  he  wouldn't  have  lost  the  confi- 
dence of  that  little  girl  for  hundreds  of  dollars.     That  is  faith. 

A  child  lives  upon  faith  in  his  father  and  mother.  Let  us 
live  in  that  way.  I  remember  when  one  of  my  boys  was  two 
or  three  years  old  I  put  him  on  the  table,  and  I  said: 

"  Willie,  jump."  And  the  little  fellow  swung  his  hands, 
and  said: 

"  I'se  afraid." 

"  I  will  catch  you.     Jump,"  I  said. 

"  I'se  afraid,  i)a]:)a." 

"  Willie,  I'll  not  let  you  fall.     Look  at  me." 

But  the  little  fellow  shrank  back.  He  trembled  with  fear. 
I  said  to  him: 

"  Look  at  me.     Jump." 

He  jumped.     And  then  he  said: 

"  Oh,  put  me  back,  and  let  me  jump  again." 

It  wasn't  long  before  he  had  too  much  faith  in  me.  lie 
would  get  up  in  a  chair,  and  say,  "  I'm  going  to  jump,  papa," 
and  I  had  to  run  to  catch  him. 

You  like  to  have  your  children  have  faith  in  you,  don't  you? 
Of  course  you  do.  I  was  down  in  Alal)ama  once,  and  a 
gentleman  stood  his  two  boys  up  on  a  fence  post,  and  they 
jumped  into  their  father's  arms  with  perfect  confidence.     The 


TRUSTING    WHOM    \VP:  KNOW. 


323 


father  picked  up  a  third  boy,  a  Httle  fellow  who  had  been  play- 
ing with  the  other  two,  and  stood  him  on  the  post,  but  he 
wouldn't  jump.     He  said: 

"  Take  me  down,  or  I'll  fall." 

He  could  not  get  that  boy  to  jump.  He  said  instead, 
"Take  me  down."     I  said  to  the  father: 

"  What  makes  the  difference  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  '"  he's  not  my  boy.     He  doesn't  know  me." 

That's  an  infidel.  You  can't  expect  an  infidel  to  trust  God. 
He  doesn't  know  Him.  But  get  accjuainted  with  God  and  you 
can't  help  trusting  Him,  can't  help  believing  Him. 

The  little  child  that  reaches  out  his  hand  and  takes  a  gift 
has  faith.  The  best  illustration  of  faith  is  a  little  child.  Take 
that  little  girl  —  she  lives  a  life  of  faith.  She  never  bothers 
her  head  where  her  breakfast  or  supper  are  coming  from.  Her 
elbow  peeps  out  of  a  hole  in  her  sleeve;  don't  bother  her  a  bit; 
she  knows  mother  will  get  her  another  dress.  Now,  we  are 
to  have  that  same  child-like  faith.  The  nearer  we  can  come  to 
the  faith  of  a  little  child,  the  better  we  shall  please  the  Master. 

While  the  yellow  fever  was  raging  in  a  Southern  city  the 
father  of  a  poor  family  who  were  strangers  there  was  attacked 
by  the  disease.  The  father  was  buried  and  the  mother  was 
stricken  down.  She  knew  that  she  must  die,  so  she  called  her 
little  boy  to  her  and  said: 

"  When  I  am  gone,  Jesus  will  come  and  take  care  of  you." 

She  had  no  one  else  to  commend  him  to.  The  little  fellow 
followed  his  mother's  body  to  its  burial  place,  and  returned 
home.  The  night  was  dark  and  dreary,  and  he  became  fright- 
ened. He  went  back  to  her  grave,  supperless.  and  lay  down 
and  slept  till  morning,  when  he  got  up  cold  and  stiff.  While 
he  sat  by  the  grave  weeping  a  stranger  passed  and  asked  him 
what  he  was  doing  there.     He  said  he  was  waiting  for  Jesus. 

"  What  do  you  mean,  my  boy?  "  said  the  man. 

The  boy  told  his  story.  God  touched  the  man's  heart,  and 
he  said: 

"  Well,  my  boy,  Jesus  has  sent  me." 


3^4 


HIS    TRUST    REWARDED. 


"  Well,"  said  the  little  boy,  smiling  through  his  tears,  "  you 
have  been  a  good  while  coming." 

His  faith  was  real,  although  it  had  been  sorely  tried. 

There  is  a  story  told  in  history  of  a  political  offender  who 
was  sentenced  to  death,  and  the  crown  prince  had  charge  of 
the  execution.  Just  before  the  prisoner  was  to  be  executed, 
the  prince  told  him  that  any  request  he  might  ask  of  the  crown 
would  be  complied  with.  The  poor  man  asked  for  a  glass  of 
water.  They  brought  it  to  him,  and  the  very  thought  that  he 
was  so  near  death  disturbed  him,  and  his  hand  trembled  so 
that  he  could  hardly  put  the  water  to  his  lips.  The  prince 
said,  "  Do  not  be  afraid.  Your  life  is  safe  until  you  drink  that 
water."     And  quick  as  lightning  he  dashed  it  on  the  ground. 

Take  the  Prince  of  Life  at  his  word.  "  He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life."  It  does  not  say  he  "  shall 
have."  but  he  hath.  Have  you  got  Him?  If  not  take  Him 
now.  He  is  God's  gift  to  you.  Trust  Him.  Living  or  dying, 
sick  or  well,  trust  Him. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE   ELEMENTS   OF   PRAYER. 

An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  London  Experience  —  Four  Hundred 
Conversions  —  Prayers  of  a  Bedridden  Saint  —  An  Invitation 
from  a  London  Physician  —  Praying  for  Fifty  Years  —  Confess- 
ing to  His  Family  —  The  Specter  of  the  Five  Bottles  of  Wine  — 
"Oh,  I  Can't  pray"  —  A  Remarkable  Story  —  A  Family 
Quarrel  —  Wonderful  Reconciliation  of  a  Mother  and  Daughter  — 
Meeting  Half  Way  —  An  Impressive  Incident  —  An  Audience  in 
Tears  —  "  There  is  One  Woman  I  Will  Never  Forgive  "  —  An  Un- 
converted Woman  —  Living  on  Grumble  Alley  —  The  Smiling 
Christian  —  The  Carpenter  who  Cut  His  Thumb  —  "  Bless  The 
Lord!  I  Didn't  Cut  it  Off  "  —  An  Astonished  Father  —  The  Load 
of  Wood  Stuck  in  the  Mud  — -  "  I  Wonder  What's  the  Matter?  "  — 
An  "  Established  "  Horse. 

1HAVE  no  sympathy  with  the  idea  that  if  we  ask  God  to  do 
a  certain. thing  He  is  going  to  give  us  chaff.  If  we  have 
faith  I  beHeve  He  will  answer  our  prayers.  I  don't  be- 
lieve He  mocks  His  children.  I  believe  He  will  give  out  of 
His  abundance,  and  give  us  the  best  He  has.  Now,  I  have  no 
doubt  a  great  many  of  you  have  said  at  different  times,  "  What 
is  the  use  of  prayer,  anyvv'ay?  " 

One  Sunday  morning  in  London,  I  preached  in  a  Congre- 
gational church,  but  with  no  unusual  power.  There  didn't 
seem  to  be  anything  out  of  the  regular  line  of  the  service.  In 
fact,  I  was  a  little  disappointed.  I  didn't  seem  to  have  much 
liberty  there.  That  evening  I  i)reached  to  men.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  building  was  filled  with  the  glory  of  God,  and  when  I 
asked  for  an  expression,  men  rose  by  hundreds.  I  said. 
"  They  don't  know  what  this  means,"  so  I  thought  I  would 
put  another  test.  I  just  asked  them  to  step  into  the  chapel  — 
all  those  that  wanted  to  become  Christians,  but  no  one  else. 

(325) 


326  fKRVENT,    EFFKCTUAL    I'kAVER. 

They  flocked  into  the  chapel  hy  huiuh-eds.  1  was  in  great  per- 
plexity; I  couldn't  understand  what  it  meant.  I  went  down  to 
Dul)lin  the  next  day,  and  on  Tuesday  morning  I  received  a 
dispatch  saying: 

"  Come  to  London  at  once  and  help  us." 

"  I  didn't  know  wliat  to  make  of  it.  but  I  hastened  back  to 
London  and  labored  there  ten  days,  and  four  hundred  names 
were  recorded  at  that  time.  For  months  I  could  not  under- 
stand what  it  meant,  but  by  and  by  I  found  out.  There  was  in 
that  church  a  poor  bed-ridden  woman  who  used  to  take  differ- 
ent ones  upon  her  heart,  and  she  began  to  pray  God  to  revive 
the  whole  church.  She  prayed  to  God  to  send  me  to  that 
church.     One  Sunday  morning  her  sister  came  home  and  said: 

"  Who  do  you  think  preached  for  us  this  morning?  It  was 
Mr.  Moody,  from  America." 

The  sick  woman  turned  ])ale  and  said: 

"  T  know  what  that  means,  that  is  in  answer  to  prayer. 
There  is  going  to  be  a  great  work  here." 

The  servants  brought  up  her  dinner,  but  she  said: 

"  No,  no  dinner  for  me  to-day,  I  spend  this  day  in  prayer." 

And  that  night  while  I  was  preaching  she  was  praying,  and 
in  answer  to  her  prayers  the  power  of  God  fell  upon  the 
audience. 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  ten  elements  of  true  prayer. 
When  Christ  got  His  theological  students  around  Him,  He 
did  not  teach  them  how  to  preach,  but  how  to  pray.  And  I 
think  we  often  ouglit  to  make  that  ])rayer,  "  Lord,  teach  us 
how  to  pray." 

First,  there  is  Contrition.  I  am  sometimes  ashamed  of 
myself  to  think  Ikmw  fluent  I  am  when  I  go  into  the  presence 
of  God.  As  if  T  were  on  an  ecpial  footing  with  Him;  as  if 
there  were  no  difference  between  us.  Let  us  bear  in  mind  that 
God  is  holy.  The  nearer  we  get  to  Him,  the  more  we  shall 
think  of  I  lis  holiness  and  abhor  ourselves.  We  shall  grow 
smaller  and  He  larger.  One  of  the  truest  signs  that  a  man  is 
growing  great  is  that  God  increases  and  he  decreases.     Why! 


SINCERITY    IN    PRAYER. 


327 


some  people  will  talk  about  themselves  by  the  yard.  "  I,  I,  I, 
I."  There  will  be  forty-nine  I's  in  a  speech  five  minutes  long. 
That  is  a  sign  that  you  are  not  growing  in  grace,  but  you  are 
growing  in  conceit.  But  when  we  get  near  to  God,  how  small 
we  look,  and  how  great  God  seems.  When  Isaiah  saw  God, 
he  cried,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  of  I^osts."  And  then 
what  did  he  cry?  That  he  was  unclean  and  dwelt  with  unclean 
people,  and  he  wanted  the  coal  to  be  taken  ofif  the  altar  and 
put  upon  his  lips,  that  his  iniquity  might  be  purged  away. 

There  is  no  true  prayer  without  Confession.  As  long  as 
we  have  an  unconfessed  sin  in  our  soul  we  are  not  going  to 
have  power  with  God  in  prayer.  He  says  if  we  regard  iniquity 
in  our  hearts  He  will  not  hear  us,  much  less  answer.  It  is  a 
prayerless  prayer  and  an  abomination  to  God  and  man.  What 
God  wants  is  sincerity. 

How  many  men  are  there  who  are  just  living  on  empty 
forms?  They  say  their  prayers,  but  they  don't  mean  any- 
thing. Why  !  the  Pharisee  said  plenty  of  prayers  ;  but  how  did 
he  pray?  He  prayed  with  himself.  He  might  as  well  have 
prayed  to  a  post.  He  didn't  pray  to  God,  who  knew  his  heart 
a  thousand  times  better  than  he  did  himself.  He  forgot  that 
he  was  as  a  sepulcher,  full  of  dead  men's  bones;  forgot  that  his 
heart  was  rotten,  corrupt,  and  vile;  and  he  came  and  spread 
out  his  hands  and  looked  up  to  Heaven.  Why  !  the  very  angels 
in  Heaven  veil  their  faces  before  God  as  they  cry,  "  Holy,  holy, 
holy."  But  this  Pharisee  came  into  the  temple  and  spread  out 
his  hands,  and  said:  "Lord,  I  thank  thee  that  I  am  not  as 
other  men  are;  I  fast  twice  a  week."  He  set  before  God  what 
he  had  done  in  comparison  with  other  men,  and  was  striking  a 
balance  and  making  out  God  to  be  his  debtor,  as  thousands  are 
doing  to-day;  and  then  he  said,  "  I  give  one-tenth  of  all  I  pos- 
sess." I  suppose,  if  he  were  living  now,  and  we  should  ask 
him  for  a  donation  to  help  build  a  church  he  would  say: 

"  Well,  I  think  it  will  do  good;  yes,  I  think  it  will  —  it  may 
reach  the  vagabonds  and  outcasts  —  I  don't  need  it,  of  course 
—  but  if  it  will  reach  that  class,  it  will  do  good.     I  will  give 


328  CONFESSION    AND  PETITION. 

fifty  dollars  if  you  will  have  it  mentioned  in  the  morning 
papers;  just  have  it  announced,  'John  Jones  has  given  fifty 
dollars  to  the  church  building  fund.'  " 

That's  the  way  some  people  give  donations  to  God's  cause; 
they  give  in  a  patronizing  way.  If  your  heart  doesn't  go  with 
your  gift,  God  will  not  accept  it.  The  Pharisee  said:  "  I  give 
one-tenth  of  all  I  have;  I  attend  the  services  in  the  temple;  I 
fast  twice  a  week."  He  fasted  twice  a  week,  although  one  fast 
only  was  called  for;  and  he  thought  because  of  this  he  was  far 
above  other  men.  A  great  many  people  nowadays  think  be- 
cause they  don't  eat  meat,  only  fish,  on  Fridays,  they  deserve 
great  credit;  although  they  go  on  sinning  all  the  week. 

Look  at  the  Pharisee's  prayer;  there's  no  confession  there. 
He  had  become  so  bad,  and  the  devil  had  so  covered  up  his  sins, 
that  he  was  above  confession.  The  first  thmg  we  ought  to  do, 
when  we  come  to  God,  is  to  confess.  If  there  is  any  sin  cluster- 
ing around  the  heart,  bear  in  mind  we  can  have  no  communion 
with  God.  It  is  because  we  have  sin  about  our  hearts  that  our 
prayers  don't  go  any  higher  than  our  heads.  The  Pharisee's 
pravcr  showed  no  spirit  of  contrition;  there  was  no  petition; 
he  didn't  ask  anything  from  God.  "  Lord,  I  thank  thee  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men  are,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterous,  or 
even  as  this  publican."  That  is  a  queer  kind  of  prayer. 
Not  a  petition  in  it.  It  was  a  prayerless  prayer;  it  was  down- 
right mockery.  Ihit  how  many  men  have  just  got  into  that 
cradle,  and  been  rocked  to  sleep  Ijy  the  devil.  A  short  time 
ago  I  said  to  a  man: 

"  Are  you  a  Christian?  " 

"  Of  course  I  am;  I  say  my  prayers  every  night." 

"  But  do  you  ever  pray?  " 

"  Why,  of  course  I  do ;  haven't  I  just  said  so?  " 

I  found  that  he  prayed,  but  he  only  went  through  the  form, 
and  after  a  little,  I  found  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  swearing! 

"How  is  this?"  I  asked;  "swearing  and  praying!  Do 
vour  prayers  ever  go  any  higher  than  your  head?  " 

"  Well,  I  have  sometimes  thought  they  didn't." 


A    HARD    CASE    TO    REACH.  329 

My  friends,  if  you  are  not  in  communion  with  God  your 
prayers  are  but  forms;  you  arc  living  on  formalism,  and  your 
prayers  will  go  no  higher  than  your  head.  How  many  people 
just  go  through  the  form?  They  cannot  rest  unless  they  say 
their  prayers.  How  many  there  are  with  whom  it  is  only  a 
matter  of  education. 

The  next  true  element  of  prayer  is  Restitution.  It  is  folly 
for  us  to  ask  God  to  do  something  for  us  that  we  can  do  for 
ourselves.  I  don't  believe  that  we  preach  restitution  enough. 
If  I  have  five  dollars  in  my  pocket  that  belongs  to  some  one 
else  and  I  try  to  cheat  him  out  of  it,  can  I  pray?  What  we 
want  is  a  revival  of  righteousness,  a  revival  of  uprightness.  I 
sometimes  hear  a  man  say,  "  Hallelujah,"  and  it  rasps  across 
my  nerves  like  a  file.  I  look  into  his  face  and  know  that  it  is 
not  real. 

When  I  was  in  the  north  of  England,  some  years  ago,  I 
met  a  w^oman  whose  case  seemed  one  of  the  hardest  to  reach 
I  had  ever  met.  She  came  to  the  meetings  constantly.  She 
talked  with  me  every  day.  She  wanted  to  be  a  Christian  so 
much,  and  yet  something  was  in  the  way.  Do  the  best  I  could 
I  couldn't  find  out  what  it  was.  Finally  there  passed  through 
the  town  a  woman  who  was  a  devoted  Christian  worker.  I 
said  to  her: 

"  I  wish  you  would  talk  with  that  woman  and  see  if  you 
can  find  out  what  is  the  matter." 

She  talked  with  the  woman  and  pleaded  with  her.  She 
knelt  down  and  prayed  with  her.  She  tried  to  get  her  to  pray. 
After  an  hour  of  this,  the  trouble  all  came  out. 

"  Oh,  I  can't  pray,"  she  exclaimed.  "  Every  time  I  kneel 
down  to  pray  I  can't  see  God's  face.  All  I  can  see  is  five 
bottles  of  wine." 

It  transpired  that  at  some  time  in  her  life  she  had  been 
housekeeper  for  a  rich  man,  and  he  had  fallen  ill  and  died. 
During  his  illness  several  bottles  of  very  rare  wine  had  been 
sent  to  him.  She  stole  five  of  the  bottles.  Years  passed,  and 
she  had  used  the  wine.     Now  the  memory  of  that  theft  brought 


,,Q  THE    MEMORY    OF    HER    SIN. 

up  the  sij^fht  of  those  five  bottles  to  confront  her  when  she 
would  turn  to  God. 

"  Now,"  said  her  counselor,  "  your  duty  is  plain.  You 
must  make  restitution." 

"  But  I  cannot.     The  wine  is  used,  and  the  man  is  dead." 

"  Take  the  money  value  of  it,  then,  and  give  it  to  his  wife." 

"  I  can't  do  that,  either.     She  is  dead,  too." 

"  Is  none  of  his  family  living-?  " 

"  Yes,  he  has  a  son  in  ,"  naming  a  town  twenty 

miles  distant. 

"  Then  you  must  take  the  money,  and  go  and  confess  to 
him,  and  give  him  the  money." 

"  Oh,  I  can't  do  that.  Won't  it  do  for  me  to  give  the 
money  to  the  church?  " 

"  Indeed  not.  The  Lord  doesn't  want  stolen  money. 
This  does  not  belong  to  you  to  give." 

Well,  the  end  of  it  was  that  she  finally  took  the  money, 
about  twenty-five  dollars,  and  called  on  the  young  man.  He 
was  surprised  enough.  "  Rut,"  he  said,  "  it  doesn't  belong  to 
me.     Give  it  to  the  church." 

"  I  can't,"  she  said.  It  isn't  mine  to  give.  You  give  it  if 
you  want  to,"  and  this  he  eventually  did. 

Well,  she  came  back  with  a  radiant  face.  She  hardly 
seemed  to  touch  the  earth.  "  Now,"  she  said,  "  I  have  found 
that  I  can  pray." 

Friends,  there  may  be  five  bottles  of  wine  standing  be- 
tween you  and  Heaven.  You  can't  bribe  the  /Mmighty.  You 
may  bribe  the  church  and  me,  but  if  you  are  going  into  His 
kingdom,  you  can't  be  a  sneak  or  a  thief.  Make  restitution. 
If  I've  got  five  dollars  in  my  pocket  that  belongs  to  another 
man,  no  amount  of  psalm  singing  and  shouting  "  glory  halle- 
lujah "  will  cover  it  up. 

The  next  element  is  Forgiveness.  More  people  stumble 
right  here  and  lose  their  power  than  anywhere  else.  Now,  if 
I  do  not  forgive  just  as  T  want  God  to  forgive  me  T  cannot 
pray.     A  man  said  to  me  some  time  ago,  "  We  have  a  magnifi- 


FOR(^.IVE,    AS    WK    WOULD    UK    FOR(;iVEN.  331 

cent  organ,  a  wealthy  and  cultured  preacher,  but  we  haven't 
had  a  man  converted  in  our  church.  Can  you  tell  me  why?  " 
"  Yes,  there  are  lialf  a  dozen  families  in  your  church  who  are 
not  on  speaking-  terms,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  cannot  work." 
God  cannot  stultify  Himself.  He  says  He  cannot  work.  If 
tliere  is  any  one  you  are  not  willing  to  forgive,  don't  you  see 
that  you  have  broken  down  the  bridge?  And  how  are  you 
going  to  get  over  yourself?  Now,  if  you  have  had  trouble 
with  some  one  and  have  not  forgiven  him,  go  and  have  it 
settled  before  the  sun  goes  down.  God  delights  to  answer 
prayer.  But  you  cannot  deceive  yourself.  If  you  are  living 
a  dishonorable  life,  God  hides  His  face  and  will  not  hear 
you. 

I  remember  preaching  in  a  place  a  few  years  ago,  and  on 
one  side  of  the  desk  sat  a  mother  who  was  greatly  troubled 
about  her  sir.s  and  wanted  to  come  to  Christ.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  platform  was  her  daughter.  They  belonged  to  a 
very  wealthy  family,  perhaps  the  wealthiest  in  that  town,  and 
it  had  been  known  for  a  year  that  there  had  been  a  quarrel  be- 
tween mother  and  daughter.  They  would  not  speak  to  each 
other  on  the  street,  and  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  each 
other ;  yet  both  of  them  wanted  to  become  Christians.  I 
said:  "  I  don't  see  how  you  can  become  Christians  if  you  are 
not  willing  to  forgive  each  other,  and  as  it  is  a  public  matter 
and  every  one  knows  it,  you  had  better  ask  each  other's  for- 
giveness right  in  the  meeting." 

Well,  the  mother  started.  The  daughter  was  not  quite  so 
willing.  A  mother's  love  is  stronger  than  her  children's  love. 
But  when  the  mother  arose  and  the  daughter  saw  her  coming, 
she,  too,  arose  and  met  her,  and  they  asked  each  other's  for- 
giveness before  the  audience,  and  confessed  their  faults  one  to 
the  other.  To  me  it  was  one  of  the  most  impressive  things  I 
ever  witnessed  in  all  my  life,  and  I  think  one  of  the  most 
powerful  sermons  ever  preached  in  that  town.  There  were 
sobs  all  over  the  house,  and  a  great  many  were  brought 
under  conviction  then,  and  inquired,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be 


332  JO"^'    I^'    RECONCILIATION. 

saved?"  Confess  your  faults  one  to  another.  If  you  can 
think  of  any  one  you  have  had  difficuhy  with,  go  and  have  it 
straightened  out,  be  reconciled,  and  then  see  how  quickly  God 
will  answer  your  prayer. 

At  a  revival  service  in  Michigan,  a  young  lady  was  greatly 
troubled,  and  in  answer  to  inquiries  she  said  that  her  unwilling- 
ness to  confess  Christ  resulted  from  a  schoolroom  quarrel 
which  was  still  imscttled.  She  felt  that  she  couldn't  forgive 
her  enemy.  When  she  had  told  her  trouble  she  asked  for  ad- 
vice. "  Must  I  forgive  my  mate?  "  "  Certainly,  if  you  want 
God's  forgiveness,"  was  the  answer  of  the  minister.  Imme- 
diately she  ran  with  all  her  might  to  her  old  friend,  and,  instead 
of  meeting  a  cold  reception,  they  were  soon  crying  on  each 
other's  necks. 

And  so  it  always  should  be,  and  almost  always  there  will 
be  the  same  prompt  half-way  meeting  betweeen  those  ag- 
grieved. M}-  wife  was  laboring  in  the  inquiry-room  one  even- 
ing with  a  lady  who  was  in  just  this  state  of  mind,  and  very 
soon  reparation  and  complete  reconciliation  were  effected,  and 
the  two  old  friends  walked  ofT  arm  in  arm,  happier  than  ever 
before  their  little  misunderstanding.  And  one  of  those  ladies 
felt  so  strong  in  her  new-found  charity  for  all  that  she  won 
over  her  husband,  and  he  openly  confessed  Christ. 

A  man  once  asked  me  to  go  to  his  house  and  talk  with  his 
wife;  she  was  anxious  about  her  soul.  I  called  upon  her  and 
talked  an<l  cx])]aiiu(l  to  her  the  way  of  life,  and  then  I  knelt 
down  and  asked  her  to  pray.  She  made  one  of  the  most 
earnest  prayers  I  ever  heard.  When  she  rose  from  her  knees, 
I  said: 

"Any  light?" 

"  No,"  she  said,  "  it  is  darker  than  ever." 

I  talked  and  talked,  but  she  didn't  see  the  way.  The  next 
day  I  went  back  again,  but  it  grew  darker  and  darker.  Finally 
I  thought  of  this  test  (I  suppose  God  put  it  right  into  my  heart 
just  at  that  time),  and  said: 

"  Let  us  repeat  the  Lord's  prayer." 


THE    UNFORGIVING    SPIRIT.  333 

She  began,  and  when  she  repeated  "  forgive  us  our 
trespasses,  as  we  forgive  those  that  trespass  against  us,"  I 
said : 

"  Can  you  say  that  from  the  heart?  " 

"  No,"  she  said,  "  there  is  one  woman  I  never  will 
forgive." 

I  had  found  it.     We  got  off  our  knees,  and  I  said: 

"  It  is  no  use  to  pray  any  longer." 

"  What  do  you  mean?  "  she  said;  "  do  you  mean  that  God 
is  not  going  to  forgive  me  if  I  don't  forgive  that  person?  " 

"That  is  what  He  says;  you  cannot  get  all  you  ask  for  if 
you  won't  forgive,  and  you  must  not  expect  to." 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say  that  I  cannot  get  into  Heaven  with- 
out asking  that  person's  forgiveness?  " 

"  Well,  there  is  the  word  of  God,  and  you  cannot  expect  to 
be  forgiven  yourself  if  you  are  not  ready  to  forgive  others." 

"  Then,"  she  said,  "  I  will  not  become  a  Christian!  " 

The  last  I  heard  of  her  she  had  lost  her  reason,  and  some 
said  religion  had  driven  her  insane;  but  it  was  not  religion,  it 
was  the  zvant  of  it. 

The  next  element  that  we  ought  to  have  in  our  prayers  is 
Unity.  When  the  church  of  God  has  had  power  with  God  in 
prayer,  it  is  when  they  have  been  united.  I  have  noticed  that 
when  we  could  get  five  churches  thoroughly  united,  we  have 
had  good  work,  and  if  we  could  gel  ten  it  was  a  good  deal 
better;  and  when  they  all  get  in  one  place  without  any  discord, 
when  every  man  and  every  woman  just  takes  right  hold  with 
both  hands,  and  the  members  all  have  one  spirit  and  one  mind, 
then  it  is  that  infidels  hide  their  heads.  But  let  division  be  in- 
troduced among  God's  people,  let  the  church  get  to  quarrel- 
ing, and  it  will  produce  more  infidels  than  any  lecturer  can. 
The  master-stroke  of  Satan  to  divide  the  church  is  a  division 
among  God's  people.  But  if  we  are  right,  our  hearts  will  be 
like  drops  of  water  flowing  together,  and  there  will  be  the  spirit 
of  brotherly  love,  the  spirit  of  unity.  You  cannot  find  a  place 
in  the  Bible  where  God's  people  were  united  that  there  was 


234  PRAISE    AND    THANKSGIVING. 

not  power.  The  last  prayer  that  Christ  made  for  His  disciples 
was  that  they  might  be  one,  and  every  one  of  us  ought  to  do 
what  we  can  to  carry  out  the  spirit  of  that  ])rayer. 

The  next  element  is  Thankfulness.  "  With  thanksgiving 
let  your  requests  be  made  known  unto  God."  We  don't  want 
to  help  a  person  who  is  never  thankful;  and  when  people  get 
to  grumbling  and  are  continually  pressing  us  to  help  them  we 
get  tired  of  doing  anything  for  them.  I  remember  an  old 
gentleman  who  arose  in  one  of  our  meetings  and  said  that  he 
lived  most  of  his  life  on  Grumble  Alley;  but  a  few  years  ago  he 
had  moved  over  on  Thanksgiving  Street.  He  didn't  have  to 
pay  any  more  rent  than  he  did  on  Grumble  Alley;  the  society 
was  delightful,  and  he  was  among  the  best  people  he  ever 
knew.  The  man  showed  in  his  very  face  that  he  lived  there;  it 
was  full  of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  You  can  tell  these  people 
as  soon  as  you  sec  them.  I  like  to  see  them  in  my  meetings; 
I  like  to  hear  them  pray.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  see  a  man  full 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving. 

I  remember  a  man  who  was  a  carpenter,  who  used  to  be- 
long to  the  same  church  that  I  did.  He  always  wore  a  smile 
—  not  a  forced  smile,  but  a  natural  one.  Every  time  he  got 
up  in  prayer-meeting  a  smile  passed  over  the  whole  congre- 
gation; a  smile  was  on  his  face  before  he  said  anything,  and  he 
always  began  by  saying,  "  Bless  the  Lord!  "  It  wasn't  one  of 
those  insincere  expressions  that  we  hear  sometimes,  it  was  an 
honest,  hearty  "  Bless  the  Lord!  "  \\'liile  at  work  one  day  he 
cut  his  thumb  so  that  it  only  held  by  a  little  piece  of  skin.  I 
said  to  myself,  the  next  time  I  see  that  man  he  probably  won't 
smile  or  say  "Bless  the  Lord!"  lUit  at  the  next  weekly 
prayer-meeting  he  was  there,  and  the  first  thing  he  said  was: 

"  Bless  the  Lord!  I  cut  my  thumb,  but  I  didn't  cut  it 
clear  off." 

Alost  of  us  would  have  changed  our  shout  into  a  wail,  and 
it  would  have  been  a  doleful  sort  of  testimony. 

T  would  as  soon  get  a  blast  of  chilly  east  wind  in  March, 
right  ofif  the  sea,  as  to  meet  some  of  those  Christians  who  are 


SIXGIXG    IN  THE    DARKNESS. 


335 


not  thankful.  Let  us  be  cheerful,  and  bright,  and  sincere. 
If  God  has  been  good  to  us,  let  us  give  thanks. 

Now,  some  people  may  say,  '"  It  is  all  very  well  for  Moody 
to  talk  about  praise.  If  I  were  in  comfortable  condition,  had 
good  health  and  everything  I  wanted,  like  a  good  many  others 
I  see,  I  w^ould  praise  God."  I  have  found  people  who  were 
poor  in  this  world's  goods,  in  bad  health,  and  yet  were  con- 
tinually praising  God.  I  can  take  you  to  a  poor  burdened 
one  who  has  not  been  off  her  bed  for  ten  years,  and  yet  she 
praises  Him  more  than  hundreds  of  thousands  of  other  Chris- 
tians. Her  chamber  seems  like  the  ante-room  of  Heaven. 
It  seems  as  if  that  woman  has  learned  all  the  secrets  of  Heaven. 
Her  soul  is  full  of  the  love  of  God;  full  of  gladness.  My  ex- 
perience is  that  a  man  who  lives  nearest  to  God  praises  Him 
most,  whether  he  is  rich  or  poor.  The  nearer  he  gets  to 
Heaven,  the  more  he  praises  Him.  The  man  who  is  furthest 
from  God  praises  Him  least. 

Now,  how  is  it  that  the  church  does  not  praise  God  more? 
I  think  it  is  very  plain.  The  trouble  is,  we  have  settled  down 
and  gone  to  sleep.  I  never  heard  of  a  bird  that  sung  in  its 
nest,  and  I  don't  believe  that  any  ntan  ever  did.  It  is  when 
the  bird  is  on  the  wing  that  it  sings;  and  so  it  is  when  the 
church  is  up  it  sings  songs  of  praise.  It  can  sing  in  the  dark, 
as  a  nightingale  sings  in  the  dark.  It  is  only  when  we  have 
been  true  to  God  that  we  can  sing  in  the  darkness.  I  am  told 
that  a  lark  never  sings  when  coming  down ;  only  when  mount- 
ing up.  That  may  be  true  or  not,  but  when  a  church  is  coming 
down,  it  is  not  a  praise  church.  When  mounting  up,  and  it 
knows  it  is  drawing  nearer  and  nearer  to  God,  it  is  full  of 
praise.  When  the  lark  is  mounting  up,  up,  up,  when  it  is 
nearly  out  of  sight,  its  song  is  sweetest.  And  so  when  the 
Christian  is  rising  up  and  drawing  near  to  Christ,  he  gives  out 
the  sweetest  notes  ot  praise  from  his  heart. 

He  who  gets  the  most  temporal  blessings  is  the  man  that 
praises  God  least.  A  man  may  be  thankful  for  those  blessings, 
yet  he  does  not  praise  Him.     In  fact,  I  don't  believe  that  any 


io^  PRAISIXd    ALL    THE    TIME. 

mail  can  praise  God  till  he  is  born  of  God.  You  may  be  thank- 
ful for  His  blessings,  but  praising-  Him  is  another  thing.  I 
don't  know  what  those  people  who  do  not  praise  God  here  will 
do  when  they  get  into  "Heaven;  they  will  be  strangely  out  of 
place  there,  because  praise  is  the  occupation  of  Heaven.  The 
redeemed  j^raise  Him  all  the  time. 

A  little  boy  whose  father  was  a  professed  Christian  was 
converted,  and  he  was  full  of  praise.  He  wondered  why  his 
father  didn't  talk  about  Christ,  and  why  he  didn't  go  down  to 
the  special  meetings.  One  day.  as  the  father  was  reading  the 
papers,  the  boy  came  to  him  and  i)ut  his  hand  on  his  shoulder 
and  said: 

"  Father,  why  don't  you  praise  God?  Why  don't  you  sing 
about  Christ?     Why  don't  you  go  down  to  the  meetings?  " 

The  father  o])enc(l  his  eyes,  and  looked  at  him  and  said 
grufifly: 

"  I  am  not  carried  away  with  any  of  these  things.  I'm 
established." 

A  few  days  after,  they  were  getting  in  a  load  of  wood. 
They  put  it  on  the  cart.  The  father  and  the  boy  got  on  top  of 
the  load  and  tried  to  start  the  horse.  They  used  the  whip,  but 
the  horse  wouldn't  move.  They  got  off  and  tried  to  push  the 
wagon  along,  but  they  could  neither  move  wagon  or  horse. 

"  I  wonder  what's  the  matter?  "  said  the  father. 

"  He's  established,"  replied  the  boy. 

That  is  the  way  with  a  good  many  Christians. 

If  things  go  against  you,  just  think  they  might  be  a  good 
deal  worse.  A  man  who  was  in  the  Union  army  used  to  say 
he  could  always  tell  when  a  Christian  addressed  a  soldier. 
One  man  would  say: 

"  I  see  you've  lost  your  leg.     Where  did  you  lose  it?  " 

"  In  the  war." 

"  \\'hat  a  pity  you  ever  went  into  the  army.  I  feel  sorry 
for  you." 

Another  would  come  along: 

"  I  see  vou've  lost  an  arm  ;  were  you  in  the  war?  " 


THANK    GOD    FOR    COMMON    GIFTS.  ^37 

"  Yes." 

"Well,  that  is  a  pity;  but,  bless  God,  you  didu't  lose  the 
other  arm." 

There  was  a  poor  afflicted  man  living  in  Chicago,  and  I 
never  came  out  of  his  house  without  praising  God.  He  was 
deaf,  dumb,  blind,  and  had  the  lockjaw.  He  had  a  hole  be- 
tween his  teeth,  and  all  the  food  he  took  was  put  through  that 
hole.  My  friend,  do  you  ever  thank  God  for  your  senses? 
Do  you  ever  thank  God  for  your  eyes,  by  which  you  can  read 
His  Word?  Think  of  the  three  millions  of  people  in  this  world 
who  haven't  any  sight  at  all.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  them 
never  saw  the  mother  who  gave  them  birth ;  never  saw  their 
own  offspring;  never  saw  nature  in  all  its  glory;  never  saw  the 
beautiful  sun  and  the  stars.  Do  you  ever  praise  God  for  the 
ears  by  which  you  can  hear  the  voice  of  man,  by  which  you 
hear  the  Gospel  preached,  by  which  you  hear  the  songs  of 
Zion?     Did  you  ever  praise  Him  for  your  reason? 


21 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  ELEMENTS  OF  PRAYER  — Continued. 

The  Boy  Who  Wanted  a  Razor  —  Thrilling  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's 
Life  —  The  Imperiled  Steamer  —  A  Tiny  Light  over  the  Waves  — 
Rescuing  a  Ship's  Passengers  from  a  Watery  Grave  —  A  Re- 
markable y\ns\vcr  to  Prayer  —  The  Boy  Who  Wanted  a 
Bicycle  —  Pleading  for  a  Father's  Life  —  Wonderful  Work  of  a 
Bedridden  Boy  —  ]Mr.  ]\Ioody  Prays  for  His  Brother  Twenty 
Years  —  Praying  for  Ridiculous  Things  —  Praying  on  the  Way 
Home  —  Knocking  at  the  Door  —  "  My  Heart  is  Breaking"  —  A 
Wonderful  Story  of  Answer  to  Prayer  —  A  Mother's  Earnest 
Appeal  —  The  Prayer  in  the  Woods  —  An  Incident  in  Nashville 
during  the  Civil  War  —  The  Soldier's  Letter  —  "  Chaplain,  Won't 
You  Read  That  "  —  Reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War —  Emma  and 
Her  Doll  —  Mr.  Moody's  Experience  with  an  Audience  of  Cam- 
bridge Students  —  Trying  to  Break  up  the  Meeting. 

ANOTHER  element  of  true  prayer  is  L'aith,  —  faith  to  be 
lieve  that  (jocI  not  only  hears,  hut  is  going  to  give  an  an- 
swer to  prayer.  I  honestly  believe  that  if  we  meet  that 
condition  our  prayers  will  be  answered.  Some  people  have  an 
idea  that  God  must  say  "  Yes  "  to  everything-  we  ask,  or  else 
He  doesn't  answer.  Now  when  He  says  "  No,"  it  is  just  as 
much  an  answer  as  when  He  says  "  Yes,"  and, sometimes  it  is 
a  better  answer. 

We  should  get  a  good  many  things  we  ask  for  if  God  did 
not  love  us  too  well  to  answer  all  oiu*  prayers.     A  man  was 
once  shaving  himself,  and  his  little  boy  came  up  and  said  : 
"  Father,  let  me  have  the  razor." 
"  Why,  my  boy.  what  do  you  want  it  for?  " 
"  Oh,  I  just  want  to  whittle  a  little  with  it :  T  just  want  to 
play  with  it." 

"  No,  I  cannot  let  you  have  it,  my  boy.     You  will  cut  your- 
self." 

(338) 


IN    PERIL    UPON    THE    SEA. 


339 


"  No,  I  won't !     I  want  it,  it  shines  so !  " 

"  You  cannot  have  it." 

And  the  Httle  fellow  sat  down  and  cried  as  though  his  heart 
would  break,  and  said  his  father  didn't  love  him,  because  he 
wouldn't  give  him  the  razor.  Do  you  say  the  father  did  not 
love  the  boy?  He  loved  him  too  well  to  grant  a  foolish  re- 
quest. Now,  there  are  a  great  many  of  God's  people  who  are 
just  like  this  little  boy.  They  are  praying  for  razors.  God 
knows  what  we  need  better  than  we  do. 

I  was  on  the  disabled  ocean  steamer  Spree  in  1892,  when 
for  forty-eight  hours  it  seemed  certain  that  we  would  go  down. 
Protestants,  Jews,  Catholics,  and  all,  prayed  there.  Our 
danger  swept  skeptics  ofif  their  feet.  I  had  a  discussion  with 
a  man  only  the  night  before,  and  he  said  prayer  was  an  exercise 
for  the  man  that  made  it,  —  the  Lord  didn't  hear  it.  But  it 
was  a  wholesome  exercise  ;  it  would  teach  us  submission.  I  was 
greatly  cast  down  on  that  vessel.  My  wife  and  two  children 
were  on  this  side  of  the  ocean.  I  had  been  away  from  my 
country  a  long  while,  and  was  returning  home.  I  just  longed 
to  get  to  my  family.  I  lay  awake  that  Saturday  morning  at 
daybreak,  and  felt  the  old  boat  tremble.  Then  the  lifeboats 
were  launched,  and  the  life  preservers  were  brought  up  on 
deck,  and  we  were  told  to  put  them  on.  It  looked  as  if  it  were 
to  be  a  leap  into  the  ocean.  But  all  that  day  my  heart  was 
peaceful.  Sunday  came.  The  moment  you  spoke  to  people 
about  their  souls  they  would  tremble  like  aspen  leaves ;  they 
thought  we  were  going  down  instantly.  Some  one  may  say : 
"  What  an  opportunity  you  had  for  doing  good !  "  A  poor 
opportunity.  During  a  great  calamity  is  a  pretty  poor  time 
to  preach  to  people. 

There  was  never  a  more  earnest  prayer  to  God  than  that  of 
those  seven  hundred  souls  on  that  helpless,  almost  sinking  ship 
in  mid  ocean.  Wg  were  drifting  out  of  the  track  of  vessels,  and 
our  peril  was  extreme. 

vSunday  evening,  Nov.  27th.  we  gathered  together  to  im- 
plore God's  help,  and  I  read  the  ninety-first  Psalm ;  and  when 


340 


THE    STAR    OF    HOPE. 


I  read  that  verse,  "  I  will  be  with  him  in  trouble,"  my  burden 
rolled  away,  and  light  burst  in  upon  nic.  lirom  that  hour  I 
was  as  calm  as  a  little  babe  I  saw  in  its  mother's  arms.  I  went 
to  my  berth  and  lay  down,  and  slept  as  soundly  as  ever.  I 
said,  "  I  may  be  in  Heaven  when  I  awake.  But  I  may  reach 
Northfield.  This  boat  can't  go  down  without  the  will  of  God, 
and  if  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  I  should  go  to  Heaven,  His  will 
be  done." 

About  2.15  that  morning  my  son  came  to  my  stateroom  and 
awakened  me,  telling  me  to  come  on  deck.  There  he  pointed 
out  in  the  dim  distance  a  tiny  light  that  we  could  occasionally 
catch  a  glimpse  of  as  it  shone  over  the  waves  as  our  ship  rolled 
heavily  from  side  to  side.  "  It  is  our  star  of  Bethlehem,"  I 
said,  "  and  our  prayers  are  answered."  Before  daylight  the 
Huron,  whose  masthead  light  it  was,  had  reached  us,  and  the 
waves  were  stilled  and  the  winds  were  hushed  by  divine  com- 
mand, while  we  were  drawn  out  of  the  direst  peril  to  a  safe 
haven.  God  answered  our  prayer.  He  sent  us  a  rescuing 
ship,  and  He  calmed  the  ocean  so  that  for  a  week  it  was  as 
smooth  as  a  harbor.     It  was  a  grand  test  of  prayer. 

God  does  not  always  take  the  thorns  away,  but  He  gives 
more  grace.  Trust  God,  and  He  will  give  you  grace  to  bear 
the  thorn  and  bring  you  nearer  to  Him.  So,  if  all  your  prayers 
are  not  answered  in  just  the  way  or  order  you  ask,  don't  think 
for  a  moment  that  God  does  not  answer  prayer. 

If  I  had  a  boy  four  years  old  who  asked  me  for  a  fast  horse, 
he  would  get  an  answer  pretty  quick,  but  he  wouldn't  get  the 
horse.  There  are  a  great  many  things  that  our  children  ask 
for  that  they  don't  get.  I  want  to  have  my  children  on  such 
terms  with  me  that  they  will  come  to  know  that  I  love  them 
too  well  to  give  them  everything  they  ask  for.  One  of  my  boys 
went  through  all  my  sermons  to  turn  what  I  had  said  about 
answering  prayer  into  an  argument  that  he  ought  to  have  a 
bicycle.  Now  faith  believes  that  if  God  is  to  answer  your 
prayers  for  your  highest,  best  interests.  He  is  going  to  answer 
them  in  His  own  way. 


»  "  rt  p 

n  P  n  =  _ 

p -2  Z  ^ 

Si  5  "^  VI  " 

s-~  S  -  f^ 

S.2,pi  " 

—  ^—  ^ 

•^  Q   ,  C 

=•2  Ef.  -^^ 

n  3':  3 

<  —  -  '•^' 
"  n  s 


^  3  _. 

Po- 
rt C-S 


"  re  "    C< 


_:7r 

3--  ft 


2.=  ^  2 

9n^   < 


=  > 


EARNEST  AND  CONSTANT  PRAYERS. 


343 


Another  clement  of  prater  is  Perseverence.  God  hasn't 
set  the  clay  that  He  is  going  to  answer  our  prayers ;  it  may  be 
long  after  we  are  in  glory  that  our  prayers  will  be  answered. 
Many  a  boy  has  been  brought  to  Christ  long  after  his  father 
and  mother  were  dead.  Many  a  boy  has  looked  upon  the  face 
of  his  father  and  mother  in  their  coigns  and  then  turned  to  God. 
Many  a  young  man  has  been  converted  at  his  father's  grave. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  governor  of  New  Jersey  who  was 
besought  by  a  woman  to  pardon  her  husband  then  under  sen- 
tence of  death.  She  came  day  after  day  until  he  was  so  dis- 
tressed that  he  gave  orders  not  to  admit  her  into  his  ofBce  —  he 
could  not  be  troubled  any  more  with  her.  One  day  she  gained 
admission  by  strategy,  and  she  had  her  ten  children  with  her; 
and  they  all  fell  on  their  knees  and  cried,  "  Governor,  pardon 
our  father  1  "  And  the  mother  said,  "  For  the  sake  of  these  ten 
children  spare  the  life  of  my  husband."  It  touched  his  heart  and 
the  life  of  her  husband  was  spared. 

A  little  bedridden  boy  whom  I  knew,  kept  mourning  be- 
cause he  couldn't  work  for  Jesus.  The  minister  told  him  to 
pray,  and  pray  he  did ;  and  the  persons  he  prayed  for  one  by 
one  professed  Christ.  When  he  heard  that  such  a  one  had  not 
accepted  Him,  he  just  turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and  prayed 
harder.  Well,  he  died;  and  from  his  little  memorandum-book 
it  was  found  that  he  had  prayed  for  fifty-six  persons  daily  by 
name,  and  before  he  was  buried  all  of  them  had  given  their 
hearts  to  Jesus.  Tell  me  that  little  boy  won't  shine  in  tlie 
kingdom  of  God ! 

We  ought  not  to  give  men  up  as  long  as  they  are  on  earth  ; 
while  we  have  life  ourselves,  let  us  keep  on  praying.  We  can't 
tell  when  our  prayers  will  be  answered ;  it  may  take  years.  I 
remember  when  in  England  I  was  told  of  a  lady  who  had  a 
godless  husband ;  he  had  forbidden  her  ever  to  speak  to  him 
on  the  subject  of  religion.  She  made  up  her  mind  that  she 
would  pray  for  him  at  midday  for  a  year.  She  prayed  every 
day  at  twelve  o'clock  in  her  room,  and  yet  she  could  see  no 
efifect.     Then  she  resolved  to  pray  for  six  months  longer,  which 


344 


PLEADING    FUR    SUULS. 


she  did,  and  still  no  sign,  no  answer.  The  (|uestion  came  to 
her  then,  "  Shall  I  give  him  up?  "  "  Xo,"  she  said,  "  as  long 
as  God  gives  nie  breath  and  he  lives,  I  will  pray  for  him." 
That  very  day,  when  he  came  home  to  dinner,  instead  of  going 
into  the  dining-room  he  went  np  stairs.  Slie  waited,  and 
waited,  but  he  did  not  come  down,  and  finally  she  went  to  her 
room  and  found  him  on  his  knees  crying  to  God  for  mercy,  in 
that  very  room  where  she  had  prayed  for  him  eighteen  months. 
God  heard  her  cry  and  answered  her  ]~)ra\er.  I  believe  that 
many  can  be  reached  in  that  way  who  cannot  be  reached  in  any 
other. 

I  would  like  to  take  a  leaf  out  of  ni}-  own  life  to  help  those 
who  have  brothers  very  dear  to  them,  but  who  are  out  of  Christ. 
Many  years  ago,  when  God  converted  me,  the  first  thing  that 
came  into  my  mind  was  my  brothers.  I  began  to  pray  that 
my  six  brothers  and  two  sisters  might  be  led  to  Christ.  I  re- 
member the  first  time  I  went  home  after  my  conversion.  T 
thought  I  could  tell  them  what  God  had  done  for  me,  and  that 
I  had  only  to  explain  it  to  have  them  all  see  the  light.  How 
disappointed  I  was  when  I  left  home  that  first  time,  after  re- 
maining for  a  few  days,  to  find  that  they  did  not  see  it  at  all.  I 
was  not  experienced  in  pleading  for  souls  then.  Perhaps  I  did 
not  go  at  it  in  the  right  way.     Hut  T  kci)t  on  as  best  I  could. 

A  few  years  after,  when  I  was  in  Chicago,  a  postman  one  day 
brought  a  letter  that  told  me  my  youngest  l^rother  was  given  up 
by  his  physician  to  die.  I  went  up  into  the  fifth  story  of  the 
building  where  I  was  em])loyed,  and  if  ever  I  prayed  earnestly 
in  my  life  I  did  then  that  my  brother  might  be  spared.  He 
was  the  Benjamin  of  the  family.  1  le  was  born  after  my  father 
died.  The  thought  that  he  might  die  in  his  sins  was  too  much 
for  me  to  stand,  and  T  wrestle<l  with  God  in  ])rayer.  1'lie  next 
letter  said  he  was  better.  When  he  arose  from  that  bed  T  felt 
that  God  had  answered  my  prayer,  and  that  my  brother  was 
dearer  to  me  than  ever  before. 

Many  years  after  that  he  came  to  me  in  Chicago.  T  thought 
my  opportunity  had  surely  come,  and   I  could  lead  him  to 


A    "liROTIIER    CONVERTED.  345 

Christ.  But  he  was  taken  sick  again.  The  doctor  said  he 
might  hve  a  number  of  years,  but  that  the  best  thing  I  could  do 
was  to  take  him  back  to  Massachusetts.  I  took  him  home 
from  Chicago  to  Northficld,  all  the  way  preaching  Christ  to 
him.  He  took  no  interest  in  what  I  said.  I  failed  to  influence 
him,  altliough  he  seemed  to  love  me  very  much.  For  fourteen 
years  I  kept  him  on  my  heart.  I  just  kept  on  praying  for  him. 
Year  after  year  I  went  1)ack  to  the  old  home  just  to  spend  a  few 
days  with  him  that  I  might  win  him  to  Christ.  He  knew  I 
wanted  him  to  be  a  Christian,  but  he  would  not  comply.  He 
took  no  interest  in  the  Bible,  no  interest  in  Christianity.  He 
would  talk  politics,  talk  everything  else,  but  you  could  not  get 
him  to  talk  of  Christ. 

Later,  I  went  to  preaching  in  that  town.  During  the  last 
month  I  asked  all  those  present  in  the  church  willing  to  be- 
come Christians  to  rise,  and  he,  my  long-sought  brother,  rose 
for  prayers.  What  a  precious  relief  for  my  heart!  He  became 
an  active  Christian.  And  when  they  decided  to  have  a  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  in  that  town,  and  the  young  men 
wanted  a  president,  they  elected  him.  Oh,  that  was  a  blessed 
day  for  me.  when  my  brother,  converted  to  God,  after  twenty 
years  of  prayer,  took  charge  of  that  little  band.  I  heard  him 
make  his  first  speech,  and  it  seemed  the  happiest  day  of  my 
h'fe.  He  w^as  a  young  man  of  great  talents,  the  most  promising 
one  of  the  family.  No  one  of  us  could  have  done  so  much  for 
Christ  had  he  gone  to  Him  in  his  earliest  manhood.  He  went 
to  work.  He  took  a  leading  part  in  religious  meetings.  He 
talked  W'ith  weak  brothers  and  set  them  on  their  feet  again. 
More  conversions  took  place  after  I  left  than  when  I  was  there. 
Every  Sunday  afternoon  he  went  into  the  country  and  took 
charge  of  meetings,  and  as  I  used  to  stand  in  the  pulpit,  and 
look  down  on  him  in  his  zealous  work,  no  one  but  God  knows 
how  I  rejoiced. 

God  called  him  home  in  the  midst  of  his  work.  For  twenty 
years  he  had  met  me  at  the  depot  in  Northfield,  when  I  returned 
to  the  old  home.     I  always  found  him  waiting  for  me  there.     I 


346 


SHORT    BUT    EFFECTIVE    PRAYERS. 


never  missed  him.  vSomctimcs  I  was  throe  or  four  trains  be- 
hind, but  he  was  always  waiting  and  watching  for  me.  On  my 
way  home  to  attend  his  funeral  that  sadly  beautiful  hynm  kept 
coming  into  my  mind  : 

"  Wc  shall  meet,  but  we  shall  miss  him, 
There  will  be  one  vacant  chair." 

But  over  and  above  all  these  thoughts  a  voice  from  heaven 
made  itself  heard :  "  Thy  brother  shall  rise  again."  The 
cloud  was  lifted,  and  for  the  last  five  hundred  miles  on  my  way 
home  that  verse  rung  in  my  ears.  The  Bible  never  seemed 
to  me  so  precious  as  it  did  on  that  day.  My  call  to  mourning 
was  the  deepest  I  had  ever  known,  for  next,  perhaps,  to  my 
wife,  my  children,  and  my  aged  mother,  I  loved  none  so  dearly 
as  this  youngest  brother. 

Now  we  come  to  the  next  thing,  and  that  is  Petition.  A 
great  many  times  we  think  we  pray  when  we  don't  pray  at  all. 
Did  you  ever  hear  a  man  in  the  pulpit  begin,  and  for  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes  go  on  with  a  eulogy  of  God,  and  there  wasn't 
a  petition  in  his  prayer  from  beginning  to  end  ?  The  prayers 
in  the  Bible  that  brought  instant  answers  were  very  short. 
Take  the  Syrophenician  woman's  "  Lord,  help  me !  "  Peter 
prayed,  "  Lord,  save,  or  we  perish !  "  Some  one  has  said  that 
if  he  had  made  as  long  a  prelude  as  some  people,  he  would  have 
been  forty  feet  under  water  l)efore  he  asked  the  Lord  to  save 
him.  Always  speak  out  and  ask  Him  for  something.  I  be- 
lieve that  a  good  many  of  our  prayer-meetings  arc  an  abom- 
ination. We  come  and  go,  and  have  no  definite  asking,  or  we 
ask  for  things  that  are  ridiculous.  We  don't  expect  anything. 
and  we  don't  get  anything.  When  you  pray  to  God,  ask  Him 
for  something,  and  then  look  for  an  answer. 

There  was  a  man  at  one  of  oiu-  meetings  in  New  York  who 
was  moved  by  the  spirit  of  God.  He  said,  "  T  am  going  home, 
and  T  am  not  going  to  sleep  to-night  till  Christ  takes  away  my 
sin  ;  if  I  have  to  stay  up  all  night  and  pray,  I'll  do  it."  He  had 
a  good  distance  to  walk,  and  as  he  went  along  he  thought. 
"  Why  can't  I  pray  as  I  go  along,  instead  of  waiting  to  go 


A    MOTHERS    GRIEF.  347 

home?"  But  he  did  not  know  a  prayer.  His  mother  had 
taught  him  to  pray,  but  it  was  so  long  since  he  had  uttered  a 
prayer  that  he  had  forgotten.  However,  the  pubUcan's  prayer 
came  to  his  mind  :  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner."  It  is 
a  very  short  prayer,  and  it  has  brought  joy  —  salvation  —  to 
many  a  soul.  Well,  this  prayer  came  to  him,  and  he  began, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  — ,"  but  before  he  got  to  "  sinner  " 
God  blessed  him.  He  stood  up  in  the  young  converts'  meeting 
and  told  us  that  as  he  said  those  words  the  light  of  eternal  truth 
broke  upon  his  soul. 

■'  Ask  and  ye  shall  receive."  Importunity  has  three  names  : 
Asking,  Seeking,  Knocking.  Some  blessings  you  get  by  ask- 
ing, others  you  get  by  seeking ;  but  if  they  don't  come  from 
seeking,  just  keep  right  on  knocking.  The  door  may  seem  to 
be  made  of  granite,  but  knock.  I  remember  that  in  Phila- 
delphia when  we  had  been  there  two  days  without  much  result, 
I  asked  all  the  mothers  and  wives  who  had  unconverted  chil- 
dren or  husbands  to  meet  me  one  morning.  About  1,500  of 
them  came  together,  and  it  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
meetings  that  I  ever  attended.  They  seemed  to  touch  one 
another's  hearts  in  their  prayers.  A  mother  got  up  and  wanted 
them  to  pray  for  her  children,  and  after  that  they  went  on  mak- 
ing requests.     Finally,  a  mother  arose  and  said : 

"  I  have  two  sons ;  they  have  been  out  drinking  and  carous- 
ing for  three  days  and  three  nights,  and  during  that  time  I 
haven't  seen  them.  Where  they  are  I  don't  know ;  but  I  know 
one  thing,  they  are  going  to  ruin  as  fast  as  they  can.  My  heart 
is  breaking,  and  I  can't  stand  it  much  longer.  God  have 
mercy  on  me,  and  pity  me!  " 

There  were  not  many  dry  eyes  in  the  room ;  it  touched  a 
chord  that  seemed  to  vibrate  right  through  the  meeting.  When 
the  meeting  broke  up  some  godly  women  gathered  around 
her,  and  they  all  prayed  for  those  two  boys.  Then  they  said  to 
her: 

"  Instead  of  coming  to  the  meeting  this  afternoon,  w'ouldn't 
you  like  to  have  us  go  to  your  house  and  pray  for  your  sons?  " 


348 


HOTH    SONS    CON\'KRTED. 


At  three  o'clock  these  godly  women  filled  the  widow's  cot- 
tage, and  they  prayed  together  for  those  boys. 

During  that  morning  the  boys  had  separated  for  the  day, 
but  thc\  had  made  an  appointment  to  meet  each  other  on  the 
corner  of  the  street  where  stood  the  church  in  which  we  held 
our  meetings.  One  of  them  arrived  before  the  other,  and  it 
being  a  stormy  night  and  very  cokl,  he  thought  he  \\ould  go  in 
and  get  warm.  He  became  interested  in  the  singing,  and  in- 
stead of  going  out  to  meet  his  brother,  he  remained. 

When  I  was  through  preaching  I  asked  all  the  inquirers  to 
go  into  the  front  room,  and  the  young  man  went  in.  The 
other  came  to  the  street  corner  and  waited  outside,  and  when 
the  first  meeting  was  over,  and  the  young  men  started  to  re- 
turn to  the  church,  this  man  saw  them  going,  and  fell  in  line 
and  followed  them  into  the  church,  where  he  was  brought  under 
the  Spirit's  inHuence.  The  first  brother  went  home  and  told 
his  mother  what  had  taken  place,  and  while  the  mother  and  son 
were  rejoicing,  the  other  was  in  the  inquiry-room  giving  his 
heart  to  God.  The  next  Monday,  when  a  meeting  was  called 
for  young  converts,  they  were  present.  There  were  not  many 
dry  eyes  when  we  heard  how  prayer  had  been  answered.  One 
of  those  brothers  stood  up  and  told  the  story,  and  then  the 
other  rose  and  said  : 

"  It  is  all  true,  for  I  am  that  brother." 

Let  us  walk  softly,  pray  earnestly,  and  ])ray  for  great  things, 
and  we  shall  not  be  disappointed.  1  remember  in  Nashville 
during  the  Civil  War  a  big  burly  fellow  came  up  to  me  weeping 
and  trembling,  and  handed  me  an  old  soiled  letter,  and  said  : 

"  Chaplain,  won't  you  read  that  ?  "  And  he  added,  "  I  think 
I  am  the  worst  man  in  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  1  haven't 
slept  a  wink  all  night." 

As  T  looked  at  the  kttcr  1  noticed  that  it  was  stained  with 
tears.  T  thought  the  man  might  have  been  drinking,  l)ut  I 
found  that  he  was  imder  conviction  of  sin.  The  letter  was  from 
a  sister,  who  every  night  when  the  sun  went  down,  luade  it  her 
rule  to  go  into  her  closet,  and  pray  God  to  convert  her  l)rother 


TIIK    SOLDIERS'    T,P:TTERS. 


349 


six  hundred  miles  away.  He  said  thai  he  had  been  in  many  a 
battle,  and  never  trembled,  never  knew  what  it  was  to  be  afraid. 
"  I  want  to  become  a  Christian,"  he  said.  And  he  bowed  then 
and  there  and  took  his  sister's  God  for  his  God.  At  a  meeting 
in  the  army  I  told  this  story  and  took  tlie  letter  out  and  read  it. 
A  lieutenant  arose  and  said  : 

"  I  want  to  tell  you  that  I  have  had  the  same  experience  ;  in 
the  last  letter  I  got  from  my  mother,  she  said,  '  My  boy,  when 
you  get  this  letter,  won't  you  go  alone  into  the  woods,  kneel 
down  and  pray  that  you  may  become  a  Christian  ?  I  can't  bear 
to  tliink  that  my  son  is  in  such  danger  and  not  a  Christian.  I 
can't  sleep!  Oh,  my  boy,  won't  you  become  a  Christian?' 
I  put  the  letter  in  my  pocket  thinking  there  would  be  plenty  of 
time.  Little  did  I  think  that  it  was  the  last  letter  I  should  ever 
receive  from  her.  When  the  news  came  that  my  mother  was 
dead,  I  couldn't  stand  it  any  longer ;  I  went  ofif  into  the  woods, 
kneeled  down  and  asked  God  for  mercy,  and  God  answered  my 
prayer,  and  this  is  the  first  time  that  I  ever  confessed  my 
Master." 

That  mother  had  sent  up  her  petition  to  God,  and  He  heard 
her  cry  and  saved  her  boy  hundreds  of  miles  away. 

We  didn't  know  in  the  awful  days  of  the  Civil  War  when  we 
should  hear  that  a  loved  brother,  or  son,  or  husband,  was  cut 
down ;  but  I  believe  we  live  in  just  about  as  dark  days  now. 
I  believe  our  saloons  are  killing  as  many  of  our  young 
men  as  that  war  did.  Isn't  it  time  for  the  church  of  God  to 
rise  and  cry  mightily  to  God  day  and  night  that  our  sons  may 
be  saved  ?  Oh,  mothers,  I  beg  of  you  pray,  work,  wrestle  with 
God ;  make  up  your  mind  that  you  are  going  to  lay  yourselves 
out  for  God's  blessing  upon  your  children,  and  keep  knocking 
until  the  answer  comes. 

Pray  for  one  another.  We  are  told  to  pray  for  the  house- 
hold of  faith.  I  pity  the  child  of  God  who  does  not  want  the 
prayers  of  God's  people.  A  prominent  man  in  one  of  our 
cities  had  an  only  son  in  the  army,  and  he  loved  him  better  than 
life.     But  he  was  a  conservative  man,  and  when  he  came  into 


350  I'RAVER    FOR    A    DYING    SOX. 

the  meeting  the  people  were  amazed  to  think  that  a  man  of  his 
high  position  should  get  up  and  present  his  son  for  public 
prayer.  But  God  burdened  his  heart  that  morning  to  pray  for 
his  son  as  he  had  never  prayed  before.  When  he  came  into 
the  meeting  and  asked  us  to  pray,  there  were  a  great  many  who 
lifted  their  hearts  in  prayer  for  the  son  who  was  then  in  front 
of  Richmond  ;  and  during  the  day  a  telegram  came  announcing 
that  he  was  mortally  wounded  and  lay  dying.  He  was  shot  at 
the  very  hour  while  we  were  praying  for  him.  What  comfort 
that  father  had  ever  after  in  remembering  the  prayers  that  were 
offered  for  him  at  that  hour.-  If  God  burdens  your  heart  don't 
be  ashamed  to  pray  yourself,  and  ask  your  friends  to  pray  for 
you. 

Another  element  of  prayer  is  Submission.  After  we  have 
made  known  all  our  requests,  say,  "  Father,  not  my  will,  but 
Thine,  be  done."  Keep  that  in  mind.  Let  the  will  of  God 
be  done.  I  cannot  look  a  day  into  the  future,  and  I  would  not 
dare  to  take  the  responsibility.  It  is  far  better  for  us  to  say 
■*'  Thy  will,  not  mine,  be  done."     Submission  !  Submission  ! 

One  of  the  sweetest  lessons  that  I  have  learned  since  I  have 
been  in  Christ's  school  is  to  be  submissive,  and  let  Him  choose 
for  me.  I  tell  Him  what  I  want,  and  when  I  get  through  I 
like  to  say,  "  Now,  Lord,  Thy  will  be  done." 

I  learned  a  lesson  once  from  my  little  girl.  She  was  always 
teazing  me  for  a  big  doll  —  a  great  big  doll.  She  had  a  lot  of 
dolls  around  the  house,  some  without  heads,  some  without 
arms,  some  without  legs,  but  she  wanted  a  great  big  new  doll. 
She  was  determined  to  get  that  big  doll.  One  day  I  took  her 
to  a  toy  shop,  and  as  she  went  in  the  door  we  saw  a  basket  of 
little  china  dcjlls.     They  were  about  as  big  as  your  finger. 

"  Oh,  papa,  isn't  that  the  cutest  little  doll  you  ever  saw?  " 

"  Yes,  yes." 

"  Well,  won't  you  buy  it?  " 

"  Well,  now,  Ennna,  let  me  choose  this  time." 

"  Oh,  no,  paj)a,  I  just  want  this  little  doll." 

I  paid  a  nickel  for  the  doll  and  took  my  little  girl  home. 


THE    LESSON    OF    SUBMISSION. 


351 


After  the  newness  had  worn  ofif  the  doll  was  left  with  all  the 
others.     I  said : 

"  Emma,  do  you  know  what  I  was  going  to  do  that  day 
when  I  took  you  into  the  toy  shop  and  you  selected  that  little 
china  doll  ?  " 

"  No,  papa." 

"  Well,  I  was  going  to  buy  you  one  of  those  great  big  ones." 

"  You  were!     Why  didn't  you  do  it?  " 

"  Because  you  wouldn't  let  me.  You  remember  you  wanted 
that  little  doll  and  would  have  it." 

The  little  girl  saw  the  point  and  she  bit  her  lips  and  didn't 
say  another  word.  From  that  day  to  this  I  cannot  get  her  to 
say  what  she  wants.  Afterwards,  when  I  was  going  to 
Europe,  I  asked  her  what  she  wanted  me  to  bring  her,  and  she 
said,  "  Anything  you  like." 

It  is  far  better  to  let  God  choose  for  us  than  to  choose  for 
ourselves.     "  Thy  will,  not  mine,  be  done." 

While  in  England  we  received  a  pressing  invitation  to  go 
to  Cambridge,  and  I  refused.  I  thought  I  had  no  call  to  preach 
to  universities.  But,  later  on,  when  we  were  over  there  again, 
another  call  came,  this  time  a  signed  petition  six  or  eight  feet 
long;  and  I  said,  "  I  will  go."  The  meetings  opened  on  Sun- 
day night,  and  I  spoke  to  eighteen  hundred  undergraduates. 
For  the  first  time  in  all  my  life  an  audience  tried  to  break  up 
my  meetings.  I  had  preached  to  all  classes  of  people  —  to 
the  hoodlums  of  California  and  other  places  —  and  never  had 
that  happened  before.  The  students  determined  that  no  Amer- 
ican, nor  unordained  man,  nor  dissenter,  should  be  heard  in  that 
great  university,  and  they  made  such  a  noise  with  their  canes 
and  their  feet  that  out  of  the  eighteen  hundred  present,  not  more 
than  fifty  heard  a  word  I  said.  Mr.  Sankey  sang  "  The  Ninety 
and  Nine,"  and  they  cheered  freely.  I  said  to  myself,  "  Here 
I  am  for  a  whole  week,  and  I  must  go  through  it  somehow." 
It  looked  very  much  as  if  the  students  were  going  to  snatch  the 
whole  thing  out  of  our  hands. 

On  Monday  night  the  disturbance  was  just  as  bad,  or  worse. 


352 


THK    RKVIVAL    AT    CAMBRIDCiE. 


On  Tuesday  the  outlook  was  darker  than  ever.  But  on  that 
day  a  lady  —  a  bedridden  saint  —  who  was  very  much  inter- 
ested in  the  work,  sent  around  an  invitation  to  a  few  Christians 
to  get  together  in  a  little  upper  room  and  i)lccul  with  (lod  for  a 
change  in  those  students.  That  turned  the  tide.  It  wasn't 
the  preaching.  They  had  heard  better  sermons.  They  had 
heard  sermons  from  the  best  j^ircachcrs  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. It  was  those  earnest  Christians  in  that  upper  room  pray- 
ing to  God  that  made  the  difference.  And  how  they  did  pray ! 
It  seemed  as  if  their  prayers  burst  right  into  Heaven.  1  said, 
"  The  victory  is  ours." 

That  night  I  preached.  I  don't  think  T  had  much  power. 
Then  I  said  : 

"  If  any  man  in  this  audience  wants  to  become  a  Christian 
will  he  go  into  the  inquiry-room?  " 

The  students  had  their  gowns  on  —  of  course  they  were 
known,  —  and  if  you  know  anything  about  universities  you 
know  it  is  pretty  hard  to  get  the  students  moved.  When  I 
gave  this  invitation  I  didn't  know  that  a  single  man  would  re- 
spond. But  silence  spread  over  the  audience,  and  fifty-two 
men  sprang  to  their  feet,  and  went  up  into  the  gallery.  That 
night  we  had  all  the  inquirers  we  could  attend  to.  About  one 
o'clock  —  I  was  getting  pretty  tired  —  a  man  came  to  me,  and 
said : 

"  I  wish  you  would  come  up  and  talk  with  this  man." 
The  students  were  on  their  faces  crying  to  God  Un  mercy. 
God  had  broken  not  only  their  stubborn  wills,  but  their  hearts 
were  broken.  I  talked  to  him  while  the  tears  were  running 
down  his  cheeks,  and  he  found  Christ  that  night.  Some  one 
said  to  me : 

"Do  you  know  who  that  man  is?  He  is  the  senior 
wrangler  at  Cambridge." 

Among  the  three  thousand  students  at  Cambridge  he  was 
the  best  —  the  leader.  There  he  was  on  his  knees,  and  the 
power  of  God  just  came  in  answer  to  prayer.  The  next  Sun- 
day night  between  two  and  three  hundred  students  came  for- 


PRAVICR    WINS    ITS    WAV.  ir^ 

ward  seeking-  Christ.     Hardly  a  year  passes  that  I  don't  get 
an  invitation  to  eome  back  to  Cambridge. 

It  isn't  the  preaching  we  want ;  it  is  pra\er.  It  wasn't  the 
preaching  that  night  that  brought  those  students  to  Christ;  the 
preacliing  was  pretty  weak  that  night.  I  would  rather  be  able 
to  pray  like  David  than  to  preach  with  the  eloquence  of  Gabriel. 
What  we  want  is  to  pray.  Let  us  open  up  communication 
with  Heaven,  and  the  blessing  will  come  down. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CHRIST    THE    GOOD    SHEPHERD  —  CHRIST    THE 
COMFORTER. 

Binding  Up  Broken  Hearts  —  The  Deacon's  Version  of  the  Twenty- 
first  Chapter  of  John  —  A  Startled  Preacher  —  Trying  to  Deceive 
the  Flock  —  Mr.  ^loody's  Misquotation  Detected  by  an  Old 
Scotch  Lady  —  "Carl.  Come  Here"  —  Mr.  Moody  and  His 
Brother  Searching  for  a  Flock  of  Sheep  —  The  Better  Land  —  No 
One  Exempt  from  Trouble  —  Mr.  Moody's  Visits  to  the  Sorrow- 
ing—  The  Deserted  Wife  —  A  Broken  Heart  in  Every  House  — 
A  Tragedy  of  the  Sea  —  Mother  and  Children  Go  Down  Be- 
neath the  Waves  —  God  Gives  us  Comfort  When  We  Need  It  — 
Mr.  Moody  at  the  Grave  of  a  Dear  Friend  —  "I  Can't  Find  the 
Brake"  —  An  Unfortunate  Excursion  —  The  Parents'  Grief  — 
Tolling  the  Death-Knell  —  Mr.  Moody's  Childish  Fear  of  Death 
—  How  it  was  Overcome  —  "Dust  to  Dust." 

CHRIST  THE  GOOD   SHEPHERD. 

AT  one  of  our  meetings  in  Lonckui  there  was  an  old  woman 
who  was  eighty-five  years  old  and  not  a  Christian. 
After  one  of  the  workers  had  prayed  with  her  she  made 
a  prayer  herself :  "  O  Lord,  I  thank  Thee  for  going  out  of 
Thy  way  to  find  me."  He  is  all  the  time  going  out  of  His  way 
to  find  the  lost.  Every  broken  heart,  every  bleeding  heart, 
He  will  bind  up.  That  is  what  God  sent  Him  into  the  world 
to  do.  There  is  not  a  broken,  sorrowing  heart  anywhere  but 
Christ  can  heal  it. 

The  Lord,  our  Shepherd,  is  able  to  take  care  of  His  sheep. 
It  would  be  a  reproach  to  Him  for  all  eternity  if  Satan  should 
prove  stronger  than  He.  I  always  tremble  when  I  hear  a  man 
defying  Satan,  and  I  want  to  add  "  V>y  the  Grace  of  God,"  for 
that  is  the  only  way.  The  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  will  take 
care  of  him  if  he  will  come  to  Him.  If  some  poor  drunkard  is 
trying  to  break  the  fetters  of  strong  drink  and  become  a  free 
man,  Satan  laughs  at  him.     He  signs  the  pledge,  and  swears 

(354) 


THE    SCOLDING    MINISTER. 


355 


by  all  that  is  good  and  holy  that  he  won't  drink  again,  but  Satan 
still  laughs,  for  he  knows  he  will  have  him  down  again  inside 
of  twenty-four  hours.  But  if  he  comes  to  the  Good  Shepherd 
He  will  take  care  of  him.  All  we  have  to  do  is  just  to  follow 
Him,  and  wherever  He  leads  us  we  are  safe.  And  that  to  me  is 
a  very  precious  thought  —  "  He  leadeth  me." 

People  say  they  are  not  able  to  keep  Christ.  He  will  keep 
all  who  conuuit  themselves  to  Him.  The  Saviour's  work  is  to 
keep  you,  and  if  you  go  astray  to  bring  you  back.  The  man 
who  had  the  hundred  sheep  did  not  say  he  would  let  the  one 
sheep  that  went  astray  find  its  way  back.  He  went  out  and 
searched  until  he  found  it.  and  when  he  found  it  he  did  not  beat 
it.  but  he  gently  put  it  on  his  shoulder  and  brought  it  back. 

I  heard  of  a  young  minister  who  took  charge  of  a  church 
that  had  long  been  under  the  care  of  an  old  pastor.  He  began 
to  scold  and  find  fault  with  the  people,  and  he  kept  that  up  for 
six  months.  One  day  one  of  the  old  deacons  asked  him  home 
to  dine  with  him.  After  dinner  the  deacon  asked  him  if  he  had 
ever  read  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  John. 

"  Read  it !  I  hope  I  have  read  every  chapter  in  the  Bible. 
Read  it?     Wliy,  of  course  I  have." 

But  the  old  deacon  got  his  Bible  and  began  to  read  aloud. 
He  read  to  where  the  Lord  is  sifting  Peter  and  testing  him. 
"  Peter,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?  Beat  my  sheep. 
Peter,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these?  Maul  my  sheep. 
Peter,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these?    WALLOP  my  sheep." 

"  Why,"  said  the  startled  minister,  "  that  isn't  there,  is  it  ?  " 

"  Well,"  said  the  deacon,  "  I  just  thought  I  would  read  to 
you  about  as  you  have  preached  to  us  for  the  last  six  months, 
and  let  you  hear  how  it  sounds." 

Feed  my  sheep !  I  honestly  believe  we  have  too  much 
preaching  in  the  exhorting  line.  I  believe  that  the  church 
needs  to  be  fed  ;  and  where  there  is  one  sermon  preached  to  the 
unconverted  I  wish  wc  had  one  hundred  preached  to  church 
members.  The  sheep  must  be  fed,  and  that  is  just  what  the 
Good  Shepherd  will  do. 


356  'fHE    VOICE    OF    THE    SHEPHERD. 

Sonic  old  divine  has  said  tliat  all  of  God's  sheep  iiave  three 
characteristics.  First,  they  hear;  second,  the)-  know  liis 
voice;  third,  they  follow  Him. 

They  know  His  voice.  A  great  many  people  cannot  tell  the 
voice  of  God  from  the  voice  of  a  false  shepherd.  A  friend  of 
mine  visited  ]\Iount  Lebanon  some  time  ago,  and  two  shep- 
herds with  their  sheep  came  down  to  the  water,  and  he  said  he 
thought  there  were  fully  ten  thousand  sheep.  The  shepherds 
were  talking  while  the  sheep  were  drinking,  and  he  wondered 
how  they  were  going  to  get  their  sheep  sejjarated.  At  length 
one  shepherd  got  up,  put  on  his  turban,  and  spoke  to  the  sheep, 
and  they  knew  his  voice.  All  his  sheep  followed  him.  He 
didn't  drive  them.  The  other  shepherd  called  his  sheep  and 
they  followed  him.  ]\1\-  friend  said  to  the  shepherd,  "  Do  all 
these  sheep  know  you?  Does  each  one  of  your  sheep  know 
you?  "  ■'  \\'h}-,  yes."  "  Can't  you  deceive  them?  "  And  the 
old  shepherd  laughed  at  the  idea ;  he  thought  it  was  too  ab- 
surd. And  my  friend  said,  "  Now,  just  let  me  try  it.  Let  me 
have  your  frock  and  turban  and  you  go  behind  a  tree."  He 
called  out  just  as  the  shepherd  had  told  him,  "  Mena,  Mena." 
The  sheep  scattered  in  all  directions.  They  knew  it  was  a 
strange  voice. 

The  true  sheep  know  a  true  shepherd.  In  Scotland  I  once 
quoted  a  passage  of  Scripture  a  little  different  from  what  it  was 
in  the  Bible,  and  an  old  woman  crept  up  and  corrected  me  and 
said,  "  Mr.  Moody,  you  said  so-and-so."  I  might  make  forty 
misquotations  in  an  American  city,  and  no  one  would  tell  me 
about  them.  Two  lawyers  were  wrangling  in  court  and  one 
said  that  the  other  didn't  know  the  Lord's  prayer.  The  other 
said  he  did,  and  he  repeated,  "  Now  T  lay  me  down  to  sleep." 
"  Well,"  said  the  other  lawyer,  "  I  give  up.  You  do  know  it." 
Didn't  either  of  them  know  it. 

Look  for  Christ  and  you  will  not  be  in  the  dark.  Now,  if 
men  and  women  are  in  the  dark  to-day,  it  is  because  they  have 
wandered  away  from  the  vShepherd  ;  because  they  are  afraid  of 
Him.     Just  draw  near  to  the  Shepherd  if  you  want  food,  light, 


KNcnVINC;    THE    SHEEP    BY    THEIR    FAILINGS.  357 

peace,  and  joy.  Just  follow.  When  I  was  a  boy  and  went  to 
school  it  wasn't  a  matter  of  feeling,  but  obedience.  What  wc 
want  is  will  power.  The  thing  we  are  told  to  do  is  just  to  fol- 
low, and  if  we  do  we  shall  not  walk  in  the  dark. 

"  He  calleth  them  b}'  name."  I  get  a  great  deal  of  comfort 
out  of  the  fact  that  the  Shepherd  knows  me  by  name.  He  knew 
Saul  of  Tarsus.  He  knew  little  Samuel.  The  Good  Shepherd 
knows  us  all  by  name.  A  friend  of  mine  was  traveling  in  Syria, 
and  he  found  a  shepherd  who  kept  up  the  old  custom  of  naming 
his  sheep.  My  friend  said  he  couldn't  believe  that  the  sheep 
understood  when  the  shepherd  called  them  by  name.  So  he 
asked  him  if  the  sheep  were  all  named  and  if  they  all  knew  their 
names.  "  I  wish  you  would  just  call  one  or  two,"  he  said.  The 
shepherd  said.  "  Carl."  The  sheep  stopped  eating  and  looked 
up.  The  shepherd  called  out,  "  Come  here."  The  sheep  came 
and  stood  looking  up  into  his  face.  He  called  another  and  an- 
other, until  he  had  called  up  a  dozen  sheep  and  there  they  stood 
looking  up  at  the  shepherd.  "  How  can  you  tell  them  apart?  " 
"  Oh,  there  are  no  two  alike.  See.  that  sheep  toes  in  a  little ; 
this  sheep  is  a  little  bit  squint-eyed  ;  that  sheep  has  a  black  spot 
on  its  nose."  My  friend  found  that  the  shepherd  knew  every 
one  of  his  sheep  by  their  failings.  He  didn't  have  a  perfect  one 
in  his  flock.  I  suppose  that  is  the  way  the  Lord  knows  you  and 
me.  If  a  man  is  covetous,  and  wants  to  grasp  the  whole  world, 
he  needs  a  shepherd  to  keep  down  that  spirit.  If  a  woman  has 
an  awful  tongue,  and  keeps  the  whole  neighborhood  stirred  up, 
of  if  she  is  deceitful,  she  needs  the  care  of  a  shepherd,  or  she 
will  ruin  her  children.  If  a  father,  who  wouldn't  swear  for  all 
the  world  before  his  children,  is  sometimes  provoked  in  liis 
business  and  swears  before  he  knows  it,  doesn't  he  need  a  shep- 
herd's care?  I  would  like  to  know  if  there  is  any  one  who 
doesn't  need  the  care  of  a  shepherd.  Haven't  we  all  got  fail- 
ings? God  would  never  have  sent  Christ  into  the  world  if  wc 
didn't  need  His  care.     We  all  are  as  weak  and  foolish  as  sheep. 

I  am  not  much  of  a  shepherd.  I  was  at  home  one  night,  in 
my  native  town,  and  was  stopping  at  my  brother's.     A  neigh- 


^-8  SEEKING  THE  LOST  FLOCK. 

bor  came  in  and  said  to  him,  "  Mr.  Moody,  your  sheep  have  got 
out."  And  my  brother  got  his  lantern,  put  it  under  his  coat  so 
tliat  we  wouldn't  scare  the  sheep,  and  we  started  out  to  find 
them.  It  was  a  very  dark  night,  and  we  went  mto  the  fields 
and  kept  groping  around  in  the  dark,  and  once  in  a  while  he 
would  open  his  coat  and  let  the  light  shine  out  to  see  where  we 
were.  By  and  by  we  came  to  the  flock  of  sheep,  and  they  fled 
in  all  directions.  I  could  tell  by  the  face  of  my  l)rother  that  he 
was  disappointed. 

"  Never  mind,"  I  said,  "  open  the  gate  and  they  will  be 
home  in  the  morning." 

"  You  know  more  about  preaching  than  you  do  about  sheep. 
They  will  be  scattered  all  over  the  mountam  side,"  he  said. 

We  had  a  hard  time  gathering  them  in.  They  were  very 
stubborn.  So  are  we.  We  don't  like  to  be  told  we  are  stub- 
born, but  we  are  a  bad  lot,  the  whole  of  us.  We  wander  away 
from  the  Shepherd,  and  get  into  a  great  deal  of  trouble. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  dwell  on  the  tenderness  of  the  Shep- 
herd. I  find  that  Satan  takes  advantage  of  some  people  be- 
cause of  His  tenderness.  Suppose  a  beloved  child  dies,  Satan 
says  to  the  afflicted  ones,  "  Ministers  talk  about  the  tenderness 
and  kindness  and  love  of  the  Shepherd ;  don't  you  see  how  He 
has  wounded  you?"  My  dear  friend,  don't  let  Satan  get  the 
best  of  you.  A  friend  of  mine  in  New  York  had  four  beautiful 
children,  and  scarlet  fever  came  and  swept  them  all  away.  The 
poor  man  tried  to  get  comfort,  but  he  couldn't  find  it.  He 
traveled  all  through  Europe,  but  couldn't  get  rest,  and  finally 
he  went  to  Syria.  One  day  he  and  his  wife  were  near  a  stream 
and  they  saw  a  shepherd  approaching  with  a  flock  of  sheep. 
The  sliephcrd  went  into  tlie  stream  and  called  the  sheep  after 
him.  They  looked  at  him  wistfully,  but  were  afraid  to  follow. 
Finally  he  came  out  of  the  water  and  picked  up  two  little  lambs 
and  put  them  into  his  bosom.  The  two  old  sheep,  instead  of 
looking  at  the  water  in  fear,  now  looked  up  at  the  shepherd  and 
began  to  bleat.  They  closely  followed  him  into  the  stream  be- 
cause their  loved  ones  were  there.     By  and  by  he  got  all  the 


CROSSING    THE    STREAM. 


359 


sheep  over  into  a  greener  pasture,  into  a  better  place,  and  when 
they  were  safely  over  he  took  the  little  lambs  out  of  his  bosom. 
The  bereaved  father  and  mother  stood  there  and  watched,  and 
they  said,  "  That  is  what  the  great  Shepherd  has  done  with  our 
little  ones.  He  has  taken  them  across  the  stream  into  greener 
pastures,  home  to  a  better  place." 

How  many  times  the  Good  Shepherd  has  taken  a  little  lamb 
to  the  hill-tops  of  glory,  and  then  the  father  and  mother  have 
looked  up  and  followed.  Have  you  some  loved  one  who  has 
gone  over  the  stream  ?  The  Good  Shepherd  has  taken  that 
loved  one  that  He  may  draw  you  to  that  world  of  light,  where 
He  has  gone  to  prepare  mansions  for  those  who  love  Him. 

Shall  we  not  just  let  our  hearts  and  affections  be  set  on  the 
other  side  of  the  river?  It  is  but  a  step  ;  there  is  but  a  vail  be- 
tween ;  we  shall  soon  be  in  the  other  world.  If  we  have  the 
Good  Shepherd,  He  will  be  with  us  in  the  dying  hour. 

CHRIST    THE    COMFORTER. 

If  I  were  to  ask  what  Christ  came  into  this  world  for,  nearly 
every  one  would  say  "  to  save  sinners,"  and  there  they  would 
stop.  A  great  many  think  that  is  all  Christ  came  to  do  —  to 
save  sinners.  Now,  we  are  told  that  He  came  "  to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  was  lost  " ;  but  He  came  to  do  more,  —  He 
came  to  heal  the  broken-hearted. 

It  is  a  mystery  to  me  why  those  who  have  broken  hearts 
would  rather  carry  them,  year  in  and  year  out,  than  bring  them 
to  this  Great  Physician.  How  many  men  and  women  are 
gomg  down  to  their  graves  broken-hearted?  For  years  and 
years  they  carry  hearts  weighted  with  trouble,  and  yet,  when 
they  open  the  Bible  they  can  learn  that  He  left  Heaven  and  all 
its  glory  to  come  down  to  the  world,  —  sent  by  the  Father  to 
heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  comfort  all  that  mourn. 

There  is  no  class  of  people  exempt  from  broken  hearts.  The 
rich  and  the  poor  suffer  alike.  There  was  a  time,  when  I  used 
to  visit  them,  that  I  thought  all  the  broken  hearts  were  to  be 
found  among  the  poor;  but  I  have  found  there  are  as  many 


^5o  HEART-SORROW    EVERYWHERE. 

among"  the  learned  as  the  unlearned,  the  cultured  as  the  un- 
cultured, the  rich  as  the  poor.  If  you  could  go  up  one  avenue 
and  down  another  in  any  city,  and  could  reach  the  hearts  of  the 
people  living  there,  and  get  them  to  relate  the  inner  story  of 
their  lives  and  experiences,  you  would  be  astonished  at  the 
history  of  every  family. 

I  remember  a  few  years  ago,  on  my  return  to  the  city  after 
an  absence  of  some  weeks,  I  started  out  to  make  some  calls. 
At  the  first  place  I  called  I  found  a  mother  whose  eyes  were  red 
and  swollen  with  weeping.  I  tried  to  find  out  what  was 
troubling  her,  and  she  reluctantly  opened  her  heart  and  told 
me  all.     She  said  : 

"  Last  night  my  only  son  came  home  drunk.  I  didn't  know 
that  he  was  addicted  to  the  use  of  liquor,  but  this  morning  I 
found  out  that  he  has  been  drinking  for  weeks  ;  and,"  she  con- 
tinued. "  I  would  rather  have  laid  him  in  the  grave  than  have 
liad  him  brought  home  in  the  condition  I  saw  him  last  night." 

1  tried  to  comfort  her  as  best  I  could. 

In  the  very  next  house  I  went  to,  where  some  of  the  chil- 
dren who  attended  my  Sunday-school  resided,  I  found  that 
death  had  been  there  and  laid  his  hand  on  one  of  them.  The 
mother  spoke  to  me  of  her  affliction,  and  brought  to  me  the 
playthings  and  the  little  shoes  of  the  child,  and  the  tears  ran 
down  her  cheeks  as  she  told  me  her  sorrow. 

I  hoped  I  should  see  no  more  family  trouble  that  day  ;  but 
the  next  visit  I  made  was  to  a  home  where  I  found  a  wife  with 
a  sad  story.  Her  husband  had  neglected  her  for  a  long  time. 
She  said : 

"  My  husband  has  left  me,  and  I  don't  know  where  he  has 
gone.  Winter  is  coming  on,  and  I  don't  know  what  is  going 
to  become  of  my  family." 

I  tried  to  comfort  her,  and  prayed  with  her.  and  endeavored 
to  persuade  her  to  lay  all  her  sorrows  on  Christ. 

The  next  home  I  entered  T  foimd  a  woman  crushed  and 
broken-hearted.  She  told  me  her  son  had  forsaken  her,  and 
she  had  no  idea  where  he  had  "-one. 


GRIKF    THK    COMMON    PORTION.  36I 

That  afternoon  I  made  five  calls,  and  in  every  home  I  found 
a  broken  heart. 

This  earth  is  not  a  stranger  to  tears,  neither  is  tlie  present 
the  only  time  they  have  been  found  in  abundance.  From 
Adam's  day  to  ours  tears  have  been  shed,  and  a  wail  has  been 
going  up  to  heaven  from  the  broken-hearted.  And  I  say  it 
again,  it  is  a  mystery  to  me  how  all  those  broken  hearts  can 
keep  away  from  Him  who  has  come  to  heal  them.  For  six 
thousand  years  that  cry  of  sorrow  has  been  going  up  to  God. 
We  find  the  tears  of  Jacob  put  on  record,  when  he  was  told  that 
his  beloved  son  was  no  more.  His  sons  and  daughters  tried  to 
give  him  comfort,  but  he  refused  to  be  comforted.  We  are  also 
told  of  the  tears  of  King  David.  I  can  see  him,  as  the  mes- 
senger brings  the  news  of  the  death  of  his  son,  exclaiming  in 
anguish,  "  O  my  son  Absalom  !  would  God  I  had  died  for  thee." 
When  Christ  came  into  the  world  the  first  sound  He  heard 
was  of  woe  —  the  wail  of  those  mothers  in  Bethlehem ;  and 
from  the  manger  to  the  cross  He  was  surrounded  with  sorrow. 
We  are  told  that  He  often  looked  up  to  heaven  and  sighed  ;  I 
believe  it  was  because  there  was  so  much  suffering  around  Him. 
Sufifering  was  on  His  right  hand  and  on  His  left  —  everywhere 
on  earth  ;  and  the  thought  that  He  had  come  to  relieve  the 
people  of  the  earth  of  their  burdens,  and  that  so  few  would 
accept  Him,  made  Him  sorrowful. 

I  often  think  of  the  difference  between  those  who  know 
Christ,  when  trouble  comes  upon  them,  and  those  who  know 
Him  not.  Several  years  ago  a  father  took  his  wife  and  two 
children  to  Europe,  and  when  in  mid-ocean  another  vessel  ran 
into  their  steamer  and  she  went  down.  Previous  to  this,  when 
I  was  preaching  in  Chicago,  that  mother  used  to  bring  these 
two  children  to  the  meetings  every  night.  It  w^as  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  sights  I  ever  looked  upon,  to  watch  those  little 
children  as  they  sat  and  listened,  and  see  the  tears  trickling 
down  their  cheeks  when  the  Saviour  was  preached.  It  seemed 
as  if  nobody  else  in  that  meeting  drank  in  the  truth  more 
eagerly  than  those  children.     One  night  when  an  invitation 


362  COMFORT    IX    AFFLICTION. 

had  been  extended  to  all  to  go  into  the  inquiry-room,  one  of 
these  little  ones  said:  "  JManima,  why  can't  we  go  in,  too?" 
The  mother  allowed  them  to  come  into  the  room,  and  a  friend 
spoke  to  them,  and  to  all  appearances  they  seemed  to  under- 
stand the  plan  of  salvation  as  well  as  their  elders.  When  that 
memorable  night  came,  and  the  steamer  sank,  that  mother  went 
down  into  the  waters ;  she  was  rescued,  but  the  two  children 
were  lost. 

Upon  reading  the  news  I  said  :  "  It  will  kill  her,"  and  I 
quitted  my  post  in  Edinburgh  —  the  only  time  I  left  my  post 
on  the  other  side  —  and  went  down  to  Liverpool  to  try  and 
comfort  her.  But  when  I  arrived,  I  found  that  the  Son  of  God 
had  been  there  before  me,  and  instead  of  my  comforting  her 
she  comforted  me.  She  told  me  she  could  not  think  of  those 
children  as  being  in  the  sea ;  it  seemed  as  if  Christ  had  per- 
mitted her  to  take  those  children  on  that  vessel  only  that  they 
might  be  wafted  to  Him,  and  had  saved  her  life  only  that  she 
might  come  back  and  work  a  little  longer  for  Him.  So  if  any 
of  you  have  some  great  affliction,  if  any  of  you  have  lost  a  loved 
and  loving  father,  mother,  brother,  sister,  husband,  or  wife, 
come  to  Christ,  because  God  has  sent  Him  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted. 

I  like  a  religion  that  gives  me  such  comfort,  that  when  I 
lay  away  any  loved  ones  in  the  grave,  I  know  they  will  by-and- 
by  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  calling  them  forth.  I  used 
to  wonder  how  Christians  had  so  much  comfort  in  affliction, 
and  used  to  question  whether  I  could  have  so  much ;  but  I  have 
learned  that  God  gives  us  comfort  when  we  need  it.  I  once 
stood  beside  the  grave  of  a  man  T  loved  more  than  any  one  on 
earth,  except  my  wife  and  family.*  As  he  was  laid  in  the  grave 
and  the  earth  dropped  upon  his  cofifin,  it  seemed  as  if  a  voice 
came  to  me,  saying:  "  He  shall  rise  again."  T  like  a  religion 
by  which  we  can  go  to  the  grave  of  our  loved  ones  and  feel  that 
they  will  rise  again.  I  like  a  religion  that  tells  us  although  we 
sow  them  in  corruption  they  will  rise  incorruptible ;  that  al- 

*Mr.  Moody's  youngest  brollier. 


"BE    YE    ALSO    READY."  363 

though  we  SOW  them  in  weakness  they  will  rise  in  power  and 
glory  and  ascend  to  the  kingdom  of  light.  Thank  God  for 
this :  "  I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless ;  I  will  come  to  you." 
O  the  blessed  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  what  can  we  do 
without  it?  I  was  going  into  a  cemetery  once,  and  over  the 
entrance  I  saw  these  words : 

Infidelity  did  not  teach  that ;  we  learned  that  from  the  Bible. 

There  are  three  things  which  every  mian  should  be  ready  for 
in  this  world  ;  ready  for  life,  ready  for  death,  and  ready  for  judg- 
ment. Judgment  after  death  is  as  sure  as  life ;  judgment  is  as 
sure  as  death.  "  It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after 
this  the  judgment."  It  is  of  very  little  account  how  we  die,  or 
where  we  die,  if  we  are  only  prepared  for  it.  We  ought  to  be 
ready  any  hour ;  we  know  not  what  may  happen  any  moment. 

Oh,  my  friends,  the  dying  hour  will  come.  We  are  hasten- 
ing on  to  death.  If  Christ  is  not  your  all  in  all,  what  is  to  be- 
come of  you  ?  When  I  was  on  the  Pacific  coast,  some  years 
ago,  I  was  told  about  a  stage-driver  who  had  just  died.  You 
that  have  been  there  know  that  years  ago  men  who  drove  those 
mountain  coaches  attached  a  good  deal  of  importance  to  the 
brake ;  they  had  to  keep  their  feet  upon  it  all  the  time  while 
going  down  steep  mountains.  As  this  poor  fellow  was  breath- 
ing his  last  he  cried  out :  "  I  am  on  the  down  grade,  and  I 
can't  find  the  brake !  "     Those  were  his  last  words. 

A  friend  of  mine  took  his  Sunday-school  on  an  excursion 
on  the  cars.  One  of  the  little  boys  was  allowed  to  sit  on  the 
platform  of  the  car,  when  by  some  mischance  he  fell,  and  the 
train  passed  over  him.  The  train  had  to  go  on  half  a  mile  be- 
fore it  could  be  stopped.  They  went  back  and  found  that  the 
poor  little  fellow  had  been  mangled  all  to  pieces.  Two  of  the 
teachers  went  back  with  the  remains  to  Chicago.  Then  came 
the  terrible  task  of  telling  the  parents.  When  they  arrived  at 
the  house  they  dared  not  go  in.  They  v.aited  for  five  minutes 
before  either  of  them  had  the  courage  to  knock  at  the  door. 


364 


A    CHILD'S    FEAR    OF    DEATH. 


But  at  last  they  ventured  in.  They  found  the  family  at  dinner. 
The  father  was  called  out  —  they  thought  they  would  tell  him 
first.     One  of  the  teachers  said  to  him  : 

"  I  have  very  bad  news  to  tell  you.  Your  little  Jimmy  has 
been  run  over  by  the  cars." 

The  poor  man  turned  deathly  pale,  and  rushed  back  into  the 
room  where  the  mother  was,  crying  out, 

"  Dead  !  Dead  !  " 

The  poor  mother  sprang  to  her  feet  and  ran  into  the  sitting- 
room  where  the  teachers  were.  When  she  heard  the  sad  story 
she  fainted  away  at  their  feet. 

"  Moody,"  said  that  teacher  to  me,  "  I  wouldn't  be  a  mes- 
senger like  that  again  for  all  I  have !  " 

You  can't  help  but  say  that  was  sad  ;  but  what  was  the  loss 
of  that  little  child  in  comparison  with  the  loss  of  those  young 
men  who  have  grown  up  to  manhood  and  rejected  the  Son  of 
God,  died  without  hope,  died  without  mercy,  died  without 
excuse  ? 

Before  I  knew  the  Son  of  God  as  my  Saviour  death  was  a 
terrible  enemy  to  me.  In  that  little  New  England  village  where 
I  came  from,  it  was  the  custom  to  toll  the  bell  whenever  anyone 
died,  and  to  announce  the  age  of  the  departed  by  one  stroke  for 
every  year ;  seventy  strokes  for  a  man  of  70,  forty  strokes  for  a 
man  of  40,  and  so  on.  I  used  to  think  when  people  died  at  70 
and  sometimes  at  80,  "  Well,  that  is  a  good  ways  of¥."  But 
sometimes  it  would  be  a  child  of  my  own  age,  and  then  it  used 
to  be  very  solemn.  Sometimes,  after  the  bell  had  announced  a 
death,  I  could  not  bear  to  sleep  in  a  room  alone.  Those  were 
davs  of  darkness  to  me.  Some  nights  I  was  afraid  to  go  to  bed 
—  I  was  afraid  of  death.  People  may  say  I  was  a  coward,  but 
nevertheless  I  was  afraid  of  death ;  it  was  so  terrible  to  me.  I 
remember  the  first  time  I  put  my  hand  on  the  face  of  a  corpse. 
A  cold  chill  went  through  me.  I  remember  once  acting  as 
pall-bearer  to  a  schoolmate  of  mine,  and  I  did  not  get  over  it 
for  days  and  davs.  Death  used  to  trouble  me.  but.  thanks  to 
God.  it  does  not  trouble  me  now.     If  He  should  send  His  mes- 


TRIU.MPil    OVER    DKATH. 


365 


senger  this  hour  to  say  to  me,  "  Mr.  Moody,  your  hour  is  come, 
I  have  got  to  take  you  away,"  it  would  be  joyful  news  for  me ; 
for  though  I  should  be  absent  from  the  body,  I  should  be 
present  with  the  Lord. 

Sometimes  I  used  to  go  into  a  graveyard  when  some  one 
was  being  laid  in  that  narrow  house,  and  when  the  sexton 
shoveled  the  earth  upon  the  coffin  it  sounded  like  a  death-knell 
to  my  soul.  I  would  hear  him  say,  "  Ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to 
dust."  Now  I  can  shout  as  Paul  did :  I  can  say,  "  O  death, 
where  is  thy  sting?  "  Oh,  the  grave  is  lost  in  victory!  It  is 
lost  in  Christ. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

TRUST  IN  GOD  GIVES  PERFECT  PEACE. 

False  Friends  —  Tlie  Old  Woman  Who  "Trusted  the  Lord  Till  the 
Harness  Broke  "  —  A  Brave  Missionary  — "  Now  I  Lay  Me 
Down  to  Sleep  "  —  Seizing  the  Last  Rope  —  A  Dangerous  Feat  — 
An  Interesting  Story  of  the  Civil  War  —  The  Prayer  of  a  Little 
Fatherless  Girl  —  Asking  God  to  Lend  a  Little  House  to  Live 
In  —  The  Story  of  Two  Bibles  Bought  With  Children's  Money  — 
Among  Sick  and  Wounded  Soldiers  —  A  Soldier's  Dying  Message 
to  His  Mother  —  A  Glorious  Death  —  Mr.  Moody's  Experience 
in  the  Panic  of  1857  —  Starting  Out  as  a  Commercial  Drummer  — 
Three  Kinds  of  Notes  and  How  His  Employer  Marked  Them  — 
Expecting  Something  Dreadful  —  The  Two  Quakers  —  A  Re- 
markable Incident  —  "Oh,  Mamma,  I  Am  so  Tired  !" — An  In- 
cident of  the  Dark  Days  of  the  Civil  War. 

I  WANT  to  call  your  attention  to  one  short  word  of  five 
letters,  T-R-U-S-T.  You  will  find  the  word  "  Trust  "  is 
used  in  the  Old  Testament  in  places  where  the  word  "  Be- 
lieve "  is  used  in  the  New  Testament.  A  great  many  people 
say,  "  Well,  I  will  believe.  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God,  and  yet  I  do  not  think  I  am  saved.  I  don't  feel 
any  assurance.  I  have  no  peace  in  my  belief.  I  don't  get  the 
victory  over  sin." 

And  so  what  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  is  this: 
I.  Ulioiii  not  to  trust.  2.  Jriioiii  to  trust.  3.  W'hcti  to 
trust.  4.  1 1 01^'  to  trust.  5.  lllio  will  trust.  6.  The  fntit 
of  trust. 

Now  to  take  up  the  first  point:  Whom  not  to  trust.  If 
we  trust  in  anything  human,  we  shall  be  deceived  and  disap- 
pointed. If  we  trust  in  ourselves,  the  time  is  coming  when 
our  own  strength  shall  fail  us.  If  we  trust  in  friends,  they  may 
die  and  leave  us,  or  they  may  turn  against  us.     How  many  a 

(366) 


WHOM    SHALL    WE    TRUST?  367 

person  can  call  to  mind  friends  who  once  were  true  to  them, 
but  now  friendship  has  ceased.  You  were  disappointed  in 
them;  they  betrayed  your  confidence.  If  we  trust  in  wealth, 
it  will  take  wings  and  fly  away.  A  man  once  told  mc  that  he 
would  rather  have  a  good  bank  account  than  have  faith  in 
Christ.  I'd  rather  have  faith  in  Christ  than  own  all  the  banks 
in  the  world.  If  you  trust  in  fame  and  reputation,  some  slan- 
dering tongue  may  blast  them.  Put  your  trust  in  something 
above,  something  beyond  this  life. 

Now,  wJiom  to  trust  ?  Trust  in  one  who  has  never  be- 
trayed confidence  in  six  thousand  years.  He  has  never  be- 
trayed a  trust  in  all  these  centuries,  never  has,  never  will.  He 
cannot  break  one  of  His  promises.  He  is  sure  to  make  it 
good.  The  God  of  the  Bible  is  an  unchangeable  God ;  and  if 
you  put  your  trust  in  Him,  you  will  not  be  disappointed.  Some 
people  seem  to  think  that  trust  is  unreasonable.  My  dear 
friends,  I  think  it  is  the  most  reasonable  thing  in  the  world 
that  we  should  put  our  confidence  in  the  God  of  the  Bible. 
Some  one  said  to  me,  "  How  can  you  prove  that  His  promises 
are  good  and  valuable?"  I  said,  "They  are  fulfilled  every 
day,  right  along."  Suppose  a  man  had  promised  me  forty 
years  ago  that  every  year,  on  the  first  day  of  January,  he  would 
give  me  a  thousand  dollars,  and  every  year  that  has  passed 
since  then  he  has  actually  given  me  the  money  promptly  on 
the  first  day  of  every  January, —  would  I  not  have  pretty  good 
reason  to  think  that  that  man  would  fulfill  all  his  promises? 
I  could  doubt  my  own  existence  as  easily  as  I  can  doubt  God. 
It  is  a  safe  thing  to  put  your  trust  in  God.  It  is  a  very  easy 
and  a  very  right  thing. 

Now,  zi'Iicn  to  trust?  We  are  to  trust  Him  at  all  times. 
We  are  to  trust  in  the  night  as  well  as  in  the  day.  We  are  to 
trust  when  we  cannot  see  how  things  are  coming  out  as  well 
as  when  we  can  see.  There's  a  conunon  saying,  "  I  wouldn't 
trust  that  man  out  of  sight."  That  is  the  way  a  good  many 
])ersons  treat  Almighty  God.  They  don't  say  so  in  words,  but 
they  trust  Him  as  far  as  they  can  see,  and  no  farther.     You 


368 


TRUSTING    WHEN    \VK    CANNOT    SEE. 


have  heard  of  the  old  woman  whose  horse  ran  away  with  her. 
She  "  trusted  in  the  Lord  until  the  harness  broke,"  and  then 
it  was  "  all  up."  She  had  trusted  in  the  harness.  Such  per- 
sons trust  only  when  they  can  sec  that  everything-  is  comint>[ 
out  all  right. 

A  person  once  said  to  me,"  Your  doctrine  is  unreasonable. 
How  can  you  ask  a  sensible,  reasoning  man  to  believe,  when 
he  can't  see  how  it  is  coming  out?  He  can't  see  the  end." 
j\[y  dear  friend,  we  are  doing  that  constantly.  You  put  con- 
fidence in  a  bank.  You  don't  know  whether  the  bank  will 
fail  or  not,  and  yet  you  trust  in  it.  Isn't  that  so?  What  do 
you  know  about  the  banking  business?  I  don't  know  any- 
thing about  it.  Yet  I  would  rather  have  my  money  there  than 
in  my  pocket.     It  is  a  good  deal  safer  there  than  with  me. 

A  mother  has  an  only  child  very  sick  with  scarlet  fever. 
What  does  that  distressed  mother  do?  She  calls  a  skillful 
doctor  and  puts  the  case  in  his  hands.  She  does  not  know 
much  about  medicine,  but  she  puts  her  trust  in  the  skill  of  the 
doctor.  That  is  trusting  when  she  cannot  see,  isn't  it?  Here 
is  a  man  who  has  a  case  in  court.  He  knows  nothing  about 
Blackstone  or  law.  but  he  puts  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  a 
lawyer,  and  trusts  the  whole  thing  to  him.  That  is  trusting  in 
the  dark  when  you  can't  see  how  it  is  coming  out,  and  when 
you  can't  reason  the  whole  thing  out,  isn't  it?  Now,  then,  put 
yourself  in  the  hands  of  God,  and  trust  Him  to  keep  you,  and 
to  do  what  He  has  promised. 

I  met  an  old  gentleman  not  long  ago  whom  I  looked  at 
with  a  great  deal  of  admiration.  He  was  a  returned  mission- 
arv.  It  was  necessary  for  liini  to  submit  to  a  severe  surgical 
operation  ;  and  the  doctor  said  to  him  : 

"Are  you  ready?  " 

The  old  missionary  straightened  up  and  said: 

"Yes.     Is  everything  else  ready?" 

"  Yes." 

"Well,  wait  a  moment." 

And  he  repeated 


THE    LAST    OPPORTUNITY.  o^g 

"  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, 

I  pray  Thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  keep; 
If  I  should  die  before  I  wake, 

I  pray  Thee,  Lord,  my  soul  to  take." 

Then  he  said,  "  I  am  ready."  Of  course  he  was.  Thank 
God,  otir  mothers  tattght  ti.s  tliat  prayer. 

In  reply  to  the  question  "  IVhcii  shall  I  trust  Him  ?  "  I 
answer,  iioi^'.  Trust  Him  to-day  to  do  what  He  has  prom- 
ised. You  will  never  have  a  better  time  nor  a  better  day  than 
now,  this  very  hour.  Some  of  you  challenge  that  statement 
and  say,  "  I'll  wait  until  I  can  break  ofT  my  bad  habits,  or  con- 
quer a  bad  disposition,"  and  so  forth.  My  friend,  if  you  could 
go  on  from  this  day  and  not  add  another  sin  but  the  sin  of 
procrastination,  you  would  not  be  able  to  do  more  than  you 
can  now.     Yoti  can  never  trust  in  God  better  than  now. 

A  story  is  told  of  a  man  who  was  struggling  in  the  current 
of  a  swift  river.  His  boat  had  been  capsized,  and  the  stream 
vv-as  bearing  him  swiftly  on.  There  were  three  bridges  across 
the  stream;  if  he  passed  the  third  bridge  it  meant  sure  death 
to  him.  People  rushed  to  the  first  bridge  and  threw  a  rope  to 
him,  but  he  passed  under  and  didn't  lay  hold  of  it.  And  he 
passed  the  second  bridge  and  didn't  lay  hold  of  the  rope.  And 
he  came  to  the  third  bridge, —  his  last  opportunity.  But  just 
as  he  was  passing,  he  seized  the  rope,  and  was  pulled  out  of 
the  jaws  of  death.  It  may  be  that  God  is  calling  you  now  for 
the  last  time.  Make  up  your  mind  that  this  is  the  day  and 
hour  that  you  are  going  to  put  your  trust  in  Him. 

And  now  comes  the  point :  Hozv  to  trust.  The  Bible  tells 
us  to  "  Seek  Him  zi.'it}i  all  tliy  heart.'"  1  never  see  men  and 
women  seeking  the  Lord  with  all  their  hearts  that  they  do  not 
find  Him;  none  seek  the  kingdom  of  God  with  all  their  hearts 
that  do  not  get  into  it.     You  can  trust.     \\'ill  you? 

It*  is  told  of  Alexander  the  Great  that  he  had  a  favorite 
doctor  who  was  always  near  him.  One  day  Alexander  re- 
ceived a  letter  which  stated  that  his  physician  was  going  to 
poison  him;  that  the  next  morning,  when  he  took  his  medicine 
in  a  glass  of  wine,  death  would  be  in  that  medicine.     The  em- 


peror  kept  the  letter  in  himself,  and  the  next  morning  when 
the  doctor  handed  him  llir  medicine  in  the  wineglass,  he  took 
it  and  held  it  in  his  hand  while  he  read  the  letter  aloud  :  and 
hefore  the  doctor  could  deny  the  letter,  the  emperor  drank  the 
wine.  That  was  to  show  the  doctor  that  he  had  confidence  in 
him,  that  he  did  not  believe  what  was  in  the  letter.  That  is 
what  I  call  believing  with  all  ymir  heart.  Xow,  there  might 
have  been  poison  in  that  cu]);  but  do  you  think  tliere  is  any 
poison  in  (lod's  cup?  He  offers  }ou  the  cup  of  salvation.  Do 
vou  think  it  is  ]ioison  and  death  to  anyone  that  will  take  that 
cup?  Do  vou  think  anyone  can  ])erish  who  will  trust  God 
for  salvation? 

I  pitv  those  people  who  live  in  "  Doubting  Castle."  You 
must  get  out  of  it.  Don't  say  }-ou  will  "  try  "  to  trust.  T 
have  heard  some  people  say,  "  Mr.  ]\b)ody,  I  am  going  to  Iry 
to  be  a  Christian.'  That  means  you  won't.  If  1  should 
sav  to  a  friend  that  I  would  meet  him  to-morrow  morning  at 
ten  o'clock,  and  he  should  say,  "  I  will  try  hard  to  believe  you," 
it  would  jirove  that  he  did  not  trust  mc.  .\nd  when  a  man 
savs,  "  I  will  Iry,"  let  him  change  it  to  "  I  a'///  trust  Him  with 
all  mv  heart,  whether  T  feel  like  it  or  not." 

And  now,  zclio  will  trust.  They  that  know  Him.  Why 
is  it  that  infidels  do  not  trust  in  Cod?  They  don't  know  Him, 
therefore  they  don't  trust  Him.  Whenever  you  find  a  man  or 
woman  who  reads  the  I'ible,  and  studies  the  ])romises,  you 
will  find  a  man  or  woman  who  believes  in  Cod.  They  can't 
help  it.  But  it  is  those  who  neglect  the  Ihlde  and  do  not  read 
about  God  who  do  not  trust  Him.  Get  acfpiainted  with  God, 
and  then  you  will  trust  Him.  The  more  you  know  of  a  true 
man,  the  more  confidence  you  will  have  in  him.  The  more 
you  know  of  an  untrue  man.  the  less  faith  you  have  in  him. 

A  storv  is  told  of  some  gentlemen  in  Scotland  who  wanted 
to  get  a  certain  kind  cf  c^<^s  from  a  nest  on  the  side  of  a  preci- 
pice, and  they  tried  to  persundc  r.  ^-^^r  boy  to  go  over  the  clifT 
and  get  them.  Thev  offered  him  considerable  money  if  he 
would  get  into  a  basket  and  let  them  swing  him  over  the  cliff. 


PEACK  THK  FRUIT  OF  TRUST. 


371 


liut  though  the  money  was  a  temptation,  he  decUned  to  do  it. 
They  said: 

"  We  are  strong,  and  we  will  hold  the  rope." 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  If  you  will  wait  until  I  get  my  father, 
and  if  he  will  hold  the  rope,  I  will  go  down  the  clifT  in  the 
basket." 

"  We  are  stronger  than  your  father,"  they  said. 

"  Yes,  but  I  .don't  knozv  you." 

He  knew  that  his  father  would  not  let  go  of  that  rope.  He 
could  trust  his  father;  these  strangers  he  could  not  trust.  That 
is  the  trouble  with  people.  They  do  not  know  Him.  Get 
accjuainted  with  Him,  and  then  you  can't  help  but  trust  Him. 

Now  I  come  to  the  last  point :  The  fruit  of  trust.  Man- 
kind is  in  pursuit  of  rest.  That  is  the  cry  of  the  world. 
Probe  the  human  heart,  and  you  will  find  deep  down  in  it  the 
longing  for  rest.  Where  can  rest  be  found?  Here  it  is;  right 
here.  Put  your  trust  in  the  living  God,  with  all  your  heart, 
might,  mind,  and  soul,  and  you  will  have  peace,  perfect  peace. 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  Bible  that  I  had  never  noticed  until 
I  was  in  Birmingham,  England,  a  good  many  years  ago.  A 
prominent  minister  had  died;  he  had  received  a  large  salary 
and  had  given  it  to  the  poor,  right  and  left.  He  was  stricken 
down  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  when  he  lay  on  his  dying  bed, 
and  thought  of  leaving  his  wife  and  seven  children  wholly  un- 
provided for,  great  distress  filled  his  mind.  He  was  sorely 
depressed ;  he  could  not  rise  above  it.  While  he  lay  there  a 
little  bird  perched  upon  the  window-sill,  and  the  thought  came 
to  him,  "  If  God  can  take  care  of  that  little  bird,  He  can  take 
care  of  my  wife  and  children."  The  confidence  of  a  child 
came  into  his  heart,  the  burden  rolled  away,  and  there  came 
light  and  peace  and  joy,  and  he  passed  away  triumphantly. 
He  had  committed  his  wife  and  seven  children  to  the  God  of 
the  Bible.  The  text  I  had  never  noticed  before  is  in  the  forty- 
ninth  Chapter  of  Jeremiah,  the  eleventh  verse,  "  Leave  thy 
fatherless  children,  I  will  preserve  them  alive;  and  let  thy 
widows  trust  in  me."  .\s  they  bore  the  body  of  that  good  man 
23 


072  A    CHILD'S    FAITH. 

to  the  grave,  the  whole  city  was  moved,  both  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  and  all  the  way  to  the  cemetery  the  streets  were  lined  with 
people  weeping;  and  his  body  was  hardl}-  laid  to  rest  before  a 
friend  raised  a  purse  of  five  thousand  ptnmds  ($25,000)  for  that 
widow.  God  took  care  of  the  widow  and  the  fatherless  chil- 
dren. M\-  friends.  I  tell  you  I  would  rather  have  faith,  and 
]nU  my  trust  in  the  God  of  the  l!il)k',  than  have  all  the  wealth 
of  the  world. 

During  the  first  year  of  the  Givil  War  I  visited  my  Sunday- 
school  scholars  in  Chicago,  and  I  went  into  a  home  where  the 
news  had  just  come  tliat  the  father  had  been  killed  in  l)attle. 
The  mother  was  the  first  soldier's  widow  I  had  met.  She  had 
two  little  girls,  one  about  three  years  old  and  the  other  five. 
A  few  days  after,  the  landlord  came  for  the  rent.  She  told  him 
Ikt  pitiful  story.  She  didn't  l^now  what  she  could  do  to  jiay 
the  rent;  slie  didn't  own  a  sewing  machine;  she  must  get  her 
living  with  licr  needle;  and  she  didn't  know  whether  she  could 
find  work.  The  landlord  told  her  that  if  she  didn't  pay  her 
rent  on  the  first  day  of  the  month  he  would  turn  her  out  of 
doors.  She  began  to  weep.  1"he  oldest  little  girl  wanted  to 
comfort  her.  Illessed  little  ones!  They  light  up  our  lives 
and  cheer  us  in  our  loneliness.  The  mother,  grieving  for  the 
loss  of  her  husband,  and  fearing  the  bleak  winter  that  was 
coming,  gave  way.  Hope  seemed  gone.  And  the  little  girl 
said: 

"  Don't  cry.  nianmia.  Won't  God  lake  care  of  us?  Won't 
He  hear  us?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,  ni}-  child." 

"Well,  then,  \\hat  makes  you  crw  mannna?  Mayn't  I  go 
and  ask  Him  to  take  care  of  us?  " 

She  went  into  her  room.  The  door  was  ajar,  and  the  little 
one  knelt  down  by  her  bed,  and  this  was  her  prayer: 

"  O  God.  ^'ou  liave  come  and  taken  away  m\-  ])a])a,  and  my 
mamma  hasn't  any  money  to  ]iay  the  landlord,  and  he  is  going 
to  turn  us  out  of  doors.  \Ve  will  sit  on  the  doorsteps  and 
catch  cold  and  die.     Won't  You  lend  us  a  little  house  to  live 


THE    CHILDREN'S    BIBLE.  573 

in  ?"  Then  she  said  to  her  mother,  "  Mamma,  don't  cry.  I  am 
sure  God  will  hear  my  prayer.     He  will  give  us  a  home." 

1  just  made  that  known  among  the  business  men  of 
Chicago,  and  a  lot  was  bought  and  a  house  put  up  for  that 
woman,  and  it  was,  I  think,  the  first  house  put  up  for  a  soldier's 
widow  in  Chicago. 

Not  long  after  this  she  brought  her  two  little  girls  to  see  me. 
They  had  a  penny  bank,  and  they  said: 

"  We  want  to  do  something  for  the  soldiers.  We  want  you 
to  take  this  money  and  buy  a  Bible,  and  take  it  into  the  army, 
and  find  a  soldier  who  is  not  a  Christian  and  give  it  to  him  so 
that  we  can  pray  for  him." 

The  father  and  husband  was  gone,  but  the  widow  and  chil- 
dren wanted  to  pray  for  some  one.  I  went  to  the  Bible  House 
and  got  two  Bibles  and  took  them  with  me  into  the  army,  and 
when  in  front  of  Richmond  I  stood  uj)  and  told  the  story.  I 
held  up  one  of  the  Bibles  and  said: 

"  If  there  is  a  soldier  here  who  is  not  a  Christian,  who  wants 
to  come  forward  and  kneel  down  and  take  this  Bible,  and  have 
the  prayers  of  that  widow  and  those  little  children  in  Chicago, 
will  he  come  forward?  " 

It  is  pretty  hard  to  get  a  soldier  to  move  in  that  direction. 
But  the}-  came  forward  by  scores.  I  gave  only  one  Bible,  and 
that  night  several, —  I  believe  a  great  many, —  started  for  the 
kingdom  of  God.  The  next  night  I  was  in  another  part  of  the 
army,  and  I  told  the  story,  and  the  soldiers  sprang  forward  to 
get  the  Bible  and  the  prayers  of  the  children  and  the  widow. 
I  believe  that  God  used  this  widow  and  her  children  to  bring  a 
good  many  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 

No  man  or  woman  who  trusted  in  God  was  ever  disap- 
pomted  or  ever  will  be.  I  once  noticed  a  lady  in  one  of  our 
meetings  who  sat  near  the  pulpit;  and  every  time  I  looked 
down  her  eyes  were  riveted  upon  me.     One  day  I  said  to  her: 

"  My  friend,  are  you  a  Christian?" 

"  Oh,  no,"  she  said,  "  I  have  been  seeking  Christ  these 
three  vears,  but  cannot  find  Him." 


374 


"IT    IS    ONLY    TO    TRUST    HIM." 


•   "  There  is  some  mistake  about  that,"  I  said. 

''  Do  you  mean  that  I  have  not  been  seeking  Him?" 

"  Well,  I  know  He  has  been  looking  for  you  for  twenty 
\ears." 

"  What  am  I  to  do,  then?  " 

"  Do?  Do  nothing;  probably  the  trouble  is  that  you  have 
been  trying  to  do." 

"  But  how  am  I  to  be  saved,  then?  " 

"  You  are  to  believe  on  Him,  and  stop  trying." 

"  Believe!  believe!  believe!  I  have  heard  that  word  until 
my  head  swims;  everybody  says  it,  and  I  am  none  the  wiser." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  I  will  drop  that  word  for  another.  The 
word  "  believe  "  is  used  in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  word 
"  trust  "  in  the  Old.  I  will  say  to  you,  trust  the  Lord  to  save 
your  soul." 

"  If  I  say  I  will  trust  Him,  will  He  save  me?  "  she  asked. 

"  If  you  really  do  trust  Him  He  will  save  you." 

"  I  trust  the  Lord  to  save  me,"  she  said.  '*  But,"  she  added, 
"  I  do  not  feel  any  different." 

"  I  think  you  have  not  been  looking  for  Christ;  you  have 
been  looking  for  feeling.  God  does  not  tell  you  to  feel;  He 
tells  you  to  trust  Him;  and  you  are  to  let  feelings  take  care  of 
themselves." 

"  But  I  have  heard  people  say  they  felt  happy  when  they 
became  Christians." 

"  Well,  wait  until  you  become  a  Christian,  and  then  you 
may  talk  about  a  Chri.stian's  experience  ;  you  must  trust  the 
Lord  that  He  will  keep  you." 

She  sat  there  five  minutes,  and  then  put  out  her  hand  to 
me,  and  said: 

"  I  trust  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  save  my  soul." 

That  was  all  there  was  to  it.  no  praying,  no  weeping. 
The  next  night,  while  I  was  preaching,  she  sat  in  front  of  me; 
and  I  could  sec  joy  written  on  her  face,  and  the  light  from 
fields  of  glory  shining  in  her  eyes.  At  the  close  of  the  meet- 
ing .she  was  the  first  to  go  into  the  inquiry-room,  and  when  I 


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THK    DVING    SOLDIER.  'ly'j 

'  went  in  there  she  had  her  arm  around  a  young  lady's  neck  and 
was  saying:  "  It  is  only  to  trust  Him."  She  led  more  souls 
to  Christ  in  two  weeks  in  that  church  than  any  other  worker. 

Oh,  my  friends,  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  your  trusting 
Him!  If  you  trust,  when  Death  comes  he  won't  be  unwel- 
come; he  won't  terrify  you.  I  remember  coming  down  the 
Tennessee  River  after  a  battle,  and  we  had  four  hundred  and 
fifty  wounded  men  on  board  the  vessel.  A  good  many  of  them 
were  mortally  wounded.  A  few  of  us  had  gone  to  look  after 
their  temporal  and  spiritual  wants.  \\>  made  up  our  minds 
we  would  not  let  a  man  die  on  the  boat  without  telling  him  of 
Christ  and  Heaven  —  that  we  would  tell  them  of  Christ  as  we 
gave  them  a  cup  of  cold  water.  We  found  one  young  soldier 
unconscious.  His  leg  had  been  amputated,  and  he  was  sink- 
ing rapidly.     I  asked  the  doctor: 

"  Will  this  man  live?  " 

"  We  have  amputated  one  of  his  legs,  and  he  has  lost  so 
much  blood  he  will  probably  die." 

"  Is  there  anything  you  can  do  to  restore  consciousness?  " 

"  Give  him  a  little  brandy  and  water,  and  it  may  revive  him 
for  a  few  minutes." 

I  gave  him  the  brandy  and  water.  Then  I  said  to  the 
wounded  soldier  next  to  him  : 

"  Do  you  know  this  young  man  ?  " 

His  eyes  brightened  as  he  answered : 

"  Yes,  we  came  from  the  same  town  ;  we  belong  to  the  same 
company ;  we  enlisted  together." 

"  Where  do  his  father  and  mother  live?  " 

"  His  father  is  dead,  and  his  mother  is  a  widow." 

I  thought  the  mother  would  be  anxious  to  get  some  message 
from  her  boy,  and  I  asked  if  she  was  a  Christian. 

"  Yes,  she  is  a  godly  woman." 

"  Has  he  any  brothers  or  sisters?  " 

"  He  is  an  only  son  :  but  he  has  two  sisters."  was  the  answer. 

I  was  anxious  to  get  some  message  from  the  son  to  the 
widowed  mother.     Every  once  in  a  while  I  would  speak  the 


•5j8  LAST    MESS  ACE. 

young  man's  name,  and  after  I  liad  spoken  it  a  number  of 
times,  he  slowly  opened  his  eyes. 

"  William,  do  you  know  where  }ou  are?  "  I  said. 

"  Oh,  yes  ;  I  am  on  my  way  home  to  mother." 

"  The  doctor  has  told  me  that  you  cannot  live.  Have  you 
any  mcssai^e  to  send  home  to  your  mother?  " 

"  Tell  her  I  died  trusting"  in  Christ,"  he  said. 

Oh,  how  sweet  it  was!  It  seemed  as  if  T  were  at  the  very 
gate  of  Heaven. 

"  Is  there  anything  else?  "'  1  asked.  He  was  sinking  rap- 
idly, but  he  replied : 

"  Yes,  tell  my  mother  and  sisters  to  1:)e  sure  and  meet  me  in 
Heaven." 

In  a  few  minutes  he  was  unconscious,  and  in  a  few  hours 
he  died.  What  a  glorious  end  !  "  Tell  my  mother  I  died  trust- 
ing in  Christ." 

Some  years  ago  a  gentleman  came  to  me  and  asked  which  I 
thought  was  the  most  precious  promise  of  all  those  that  Christ 
left.  I  could  not  answer  the  question.  It  is  like  a  man  with 
a  large  family  of  children,  he  cannot  tell  which  he  likes  best ;  he 
loves  them  all.  But  this  is  one  of  the  sweetest  promises  of  all : 
"  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  j)eace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  on 
Thee:  because  he  trusteth  in  Thee." 

There  are  a  good  many  people  who  think  the  promises  are 
not  going  to  be  fulfilled.  There  are  some  that  you  do  see  ful- 
filled, and  you  cannot  help  but  believe  they  are  true.  Now,  re- 
member that  all  the  promises  are  not  given  without  conditions ; 
some  promises  are  given  with  and  others  without  conditions. 

After  the  Panic  of  1857  I  went  to  work  for  a  business  man 
in  Chicago  who  was  going  to  send  me  out  as  a  commercial 
drummer.  I  was  to  collect  debts  as  well  as  sell  goods.  The 
day  I  started  out  he  was  very  busy  looking  over  a  lot  of  notes, 
and  every  time  I  went  into  his  offlce  I  saw  him  working  on 
those  notes.  Just  before  I  started  for  the  train  he  called  me 
in  and  gave  me  my  instructions.  He  said,  "  I  have  here  three 
classes  of  notes.     You  will  see  there  is  a  private  mark  at  the 


THE    WAY    TO    COME. 


379 


bottom  of  each  note.  One  class  is  marked  *  B.'  That  is  for 
your  own  eye.  Tliat  is  a  '  bad  '  debt.  Get  ten  cents  on  a  dol- 
lar; get  anything  you  can.  and  settle  that  up.  Here  is  another 
class  of  notes.  You  will  find  they  are  marked  '  D.'  I  am 
afraid  the  man  is  going  to  fail.  Get  all  the  collateral  or  security 
you  can.  Get  another  man's  name  on  the  note  if  you  can.  Fix 
it  up  some  way.  Here  is  another  class  marked  '  G.'  That 
stands  for  *  Good.'  Don't  give  any  discount  on  them."  They 
were  all  written  the  same,  —  all  four  months  notes.  It  made 
all  the  difference  who  signed  them.  I  find  that  the  Church  has 
divided  up  God's  promises  in  pretty  nearly  the  same  way. 
Some  they  consider  "  Bad."  But  I  want  to  tell  you.  always 
put  down  "  Good  "  against  every  one  of  God's  promises. 

It  troubles  many  people  a  great  deal  as  to  how  they  should 
come  to  Christ.  I  have  thought  a  great  deal  about  that  word 
"  come,"  and  tried  to  find  a  way  in  which  I  could  make  its 
meaning  plainer  to  people,  but  I  have  at  last  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  only  way  to  come  is  to  come.  One  of  the  first 
things  we  were  taught  was  to  come.  We  were  first  taught  to  . 
look  and  then  to  come.  The  little  child  learns  to  come  to  its 
mother  by  pushing  its  chair  along  when  its  mother  calls 
"  come."  So  I  say  to  you.  come  ;  if  you  can't  run,  walk ;  if  you 
can't  walk,  creep ;  but  come,  in  some  way. 

I  was  preaching  in  Chicago  to  an  audience  of  women  one 
Sunday  afternoon,  and  after  the  meeting  was  over  a  lady  said 
she  wanted  to  talk  to  me.  She  said  she  would  accept  Christ, 
and  after  some  conversation  she  went  home.  I  looked  for  her 
for  a  whole  week,  but  didn't  see  her  until  the  next  Sunday  after- 
noon. She  sat  down  right  in  front  of  me  and  her  face  had  a 
sad  expression. 

After  the  meeting  was  over  I  asked  her  what  the  trouble 
was.     She  said : 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Moody,  this  has  been  the  most  miserable  week 
of  my  life." 

I  asked  her  if  there  was  any  one  whom  she  had  had  trouble 
with  and  whom  she  could  not  forgfive.     She  answered : 


38o 


FEARING    TO    CONFESS    CHRIST. 


"  No,  not  that  I  know  of." 

"  Well,  did  you  tell  your  friends  about  having  found  the 
Saviour?  " 

"  Indeed  I  didn't ;  I  have  been  all  the  week  trying  to  keep  it 
from  them." 

"  Well,  that  is  the  reason  why  you  have  no  peace." 

She  wanted  to  take  the  crown,  but  didn't  want  the  cross. 

"  Why,"  she  said,  "  if  I  should  go  home  and  tell  my  infidel 
liusband  that  I  had  found  Christ  I  don't  know  what  he  would 
do;  I  think  he  would  turn  me  out." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  go  out." 

She  went  away  promising  that  she  would  tell  him. 

The  next  night  I  gave  an  address  to  men  only,  and  in  the 
hall  there  were  eight  thousand  men  and  one  solitary  woman. 
After  the  services  I  went  into  the  inf|uiry-meeting  and  found 
this  lady  and  her  husband  there.  She  introduced  me  to  him 
(he  was  a  doctor  and  a  very  inlluential  man),  and  said : 

"  My  husband  wants  to  become  a  Christian." 

I  took  my  Bible  and  told  him  about  Christ,  and  he  accepted 
Him.     I  said  to  her  after  it  was  all  over : 

"  It  turned  out  quite  differently  from  what  you  expected, 
didn't  it?" 

"  Yes,"  she  said,  "  I  was  never  so  troubled  in  my  life.  I 
expected  he  would  do  something  dreadful,  but  it  has  turned  out 
so  well." 

She  took  God's  way  and  got  rest.     You  may  have  rest. 

Two  Quakers  in  Philadelphia  attended  our  meetings,  and 
every  morning  they  talked  about  the  sermons.  One  of  them 
came  forward  and  the  Lord  blessed  him,  and  he  wanted  to  tell 
liis  brother,  but  didn't  know  how  to  do  it.  The  next  morn- 
ing as  the  l)rother  came  down  to  breakfast,  he  said  : 

"  I  can't  take  up  a  paper  that  is  not  full  of  Moody,  and  if  I 
could  read  of  any  one's  being  converted  in  riiiladeli)liia,  I 
would  myself  be  converted." 

"  Look  at  me,"  said  the  brother,  "  1  have  been  converted." 

"  You  don't  mean  it?  " 


"BETTER    AND    BETTER."  381 

"  Yes,  I  do." 

Well,  the  poor  fellow  couldn't  say  anything.  That  was  in 
1875.  I  ^^'^5  "''  Philadelphia  twenty-two  years  after  and  I  met 
my  Quaker  friend,  and  I  said  : 

"  How  are  you  getting  on  ?  Have  you  lost  sight  of  Christ 
as  your  personal  Saviour  ?  " 

"Thank  God,  no!     It  is  better  and  better." 

He  "  yoked  "  himself  with  Jesus  Christ.  If  there  is  any 
odium  cast  on  Jesus  Christ,  take  your  share  of  it,  and  you  will 
have  your  share  of  glory  by  and  by.  Don't  sneak  off  like  a 
coward.  If  a  man  has  anything  to  say  against  Jesus  Christ 
in  your  hearing,  be  ready  to  speak  up  for  him. 

One  day,  in  Wales,  a  lady  told  me  this  little  story  :  An 
English  friend  of  hers  had  a  child  that  was  sick.  At  first  they 
considered  there  was  no  danger,  but  one  day  the  doctor  saw 
that  the  symptoms  were  very  unfavorable.  He  led  the  mother 
out  of  the  room  and  told  her  that  the  child  could  not  live.  The 
dreadful  news  came  like  a  thunderbolt.  After  the  doctor  had 
gone  the  mother  went  into  the  room  where  the  child  lay  and 
began  to  talk  to  her : 

"  Darling,  do  you  know  you  will  soon  hear  the  music  of 
Heaven  ?  You  will  hear  sweeter  songs  than  you  have  ever 
heard  on  earth  ;  you  will  hear  them  sing  the  song  of  Moses  and 
the  Lamb.     Won't  that  be  sweet,  darling?  " 

And  the  little  child  turned  her  head  away,  and  said  : 

"  Oh  mamma,  I  am  so  tired  and  so  sick  that  I  think  it  would 
make  me  worse  to  hear  all  that  music." 

"  Well,"  the  mother  said,  "  you  will  soon  see  Jesus,"  and 
she  went  on  picturing  Heaven  as  it  is  described  in  Revelations  ; 
but  the  little  child  again  turned  her  head  away  and  said  : 

"  Oh  mamma,  I  am  so  tired  that  I  think  it  would  make  me 
worse  to  see  all  those  beautiful  things  !  " 

Then  the  mother  took  her  little  one  in  her  arms  and 
tenderly  pressed  her  to  her  heart.  And  the  little  one  whispered  : 

"  Oh  mamma,  that  is  what  I  want !  If  Jesus  will  only  take 
me  in  his  arms  and  let  me  rest," 


382  SAVIXC;    PRAYERS    WITHOUT    PRAYING. 

Dear  friend,  are  you  not  tired  and  weary  of  sin  ?  Are  you 
not  weary  of  the  turmoil  of  life?  You  can  find  rest  on  the 
bosom  of  the  Son  of  God. 

When  I  hear  a  man  say  that  he  is  a  Christian,  but  is  not  at 
peace,  I  am  always  suspicious  of  his  conversion.  There  are  a 
great  many  men  who  want  peace,  but  want  to  cover  up  some 
sin.  You  cannot  liave  peace  until  you  have  brought  that  sin  to 
Christ  and  He  has  put  it  away. 

Years  ago  my  little  boy  had  some  trouble  with  his  sister  and 
he  didn't  want  to  forgive  her.  At  night  after  he  had  knelt  down 
by  his  mother  and  said  his  prayers,  I  went  up  to  him  and  said  : 

"  Willie,  did  you  pray?  " 

"  I  said  my  prayers." 

"  Yes,  but  did  }'ou  pray?  " 

"  I  said  my  prayers.  " 

"I  know  you  said  them,  but  did  you  pray?"  He  hung 
his  head. 

"  You  are  angry  with  your  sister?  " 

"  Well,  she  had  no  business  to  do  so." 

"  That  has  nothing  to  do  with  it ;  you  have  the  wrong  idea, 
my  boy,  if  you  think  that  you  prayed  to-night." 

You  sec  he  was  trying  to  get  over  it  1)y  saying,  "  1  said  niv 
prayers  to-night."  I  find  that  many  people  say  their  i)rayers 
every  night,  just  to  ease  their  conscience.     Then  I  said  : 

"  Willie,  if  you  don't  forgive  your  sister,  you  will  not  sleep 
to-night.     Ask  her  to  forgive  you." 

"  r)h,  yes.  I  shall  sleep  well  enough:  I'm  going  to  think 
about  being  out  in  the  country !  "  he  said. 

That  is  the  way  that  wc  frc(|ucntly  i\o  \  we  try  to  tliink  of 
something  else  to  get  rid  of  tlic  thought  of  sins,  l)ut  we  cannot. 
I  said  nothing  more  to  Iiim,  but  soon  he  called  his  mother  and 
said  : 

"  Mother,  won't  you  please  go  up  and  ask  luinna  if  slie  will 
forgive  me?  " 

Then  I  heard  him  murnuuMng  in  bed,  and  he  was  saying  his 
prayers.     And  he  said  to  me ; 


AB()\'K    THK    CI.orDS.  ^g^ 

"  Papa,  you  Nvcrc  right.  I  could  not  sleep,  and  I  cannot 
tell  you  how  happy  I  am  now." 

I  remember  attending  a  meeting-  after  the  Civil  War  had 
been  going  on  for  about  six  months.  The  army  of  the  North 
had  ])een  defeated  at  I'ull  Run  :  in  fact  we  had  had  nothing  but 
defeat,  and  it  looked  as  though  the  Repu])lic  was  going  to 
pieces.  We  were  much  cast  down  and  discouraged.  At  this 
meeting  it  seemed  as  if  every  speaker  had  hung  his  harj)  upon 
the  willow,  and  it  was  one  of  the  gloomiest  meetings  I  ever 
attended.  Finally  an  old  man  with  beautiful  white  hair  arose 
to  speak,  and  his  face  literally  shone.  "  Young  men,"  he  said, 
"  you  do  not  talk  like  sons  of  the  King.  Though  it  is  dark  just 
here,  remember  it  is  light  somewhere  else."  Then  he  went 
on  to  say  that  if  it  were  dark  all  over  the  world,  it  was  light  up 
around  the  throne. 

He  told  us  he  had  come  from  the  east,  where  he  had  been 
up  on  a  mountain  to  spend  the  night  and  see  the  sun  rise.  As 
the  party  was  climbing  up  the  mountain,  and  before  it  had 
reached  the  summit,  a  storm  came  on.  He  said  to  the  guide, 
"  I  will  give  this  up  ;  take  me  back."  The  guide  smiled  and 
replied.  "  I  think  w-e  shall  get  above  the  storm  soon."  On  they 
went ;  and  they  soon  reached  a  place  where  it  was  as  calm  as 
any  summer  evening.  Down  in  the  valley  a  terrible  storm 
raged ;  they  could  hear  the  thunder  roll,  and  see  the  lightning's 
flash ;  but  all  was  serene  on  the  mountain  top.  "  And  so,  my 
young  friends,"  continued  the  old  man,  "  though  all  is  dark 
around  you,  com.e  a  little  higher  up  and  the  darkness  will  flee 
away."  Often  when  I  have  been  inclined  to  get  discouraged, 
I  have  thought  of  what  he  said.  Now,  if  you  are  down  in  the 
valley  amidst  the  fog  and  the  darkness,  get  a  little  higher  up, 
get  nearer  to  Christ,  and  know  more  of  Him. 


CHAPTER    XVIIL 

EXCUSES. 

The  Three  Men  Who  Were  Invited  to  a  Feast  —  The  Five  Yoke  of 
Oxen  —  The  Sunday  Newspaper  —  Sunday  and  the  Bicycle  — 
Death-bed  Repentance  —  The  Bridge  of  Sighs  —  A  Hard  Master  — 
Mr.  Moody's  Efforts  to  Release  a  Man  from  Prison  —  Putting 
On  the  Uniform  of  Heaven  —  Fliring  a  Model  —  The  Beggar  and 
His  New  Suit  of  Clothes  —  Too  Well  Dressed  —  The  Barefooted 
Beggar  Boy  —  How  He  Obtained  Five  Pairs  of  Boots  a  Day  — 
The  Reckless  Sailor  Who  Longed  for  a  Better  Life  —  Some  of 
His  Experiences  —  Blackballed  —  Quacks  and  Shysters  —  Drink- 
ing "  On  the  Sly  "  —  "A  Church  Member  Cheated  Me  "  —  "  Lies  " 
and  "  Shams  "  —  The  Troubled  Scotchman  —  One  Way  of  De- 
clining an  Invitation  to  Dinner  —  Two  Excuses  Men  Seldom 
Give  —  A  Bereaved  Parent's  Letter  to  Mr.  Moody. 

THERE  were  once  three  men  who  were  invited  to  a  feast. 
It  was  not  an  ordinary  feast,  but  a  royal  feast.  The 
common  people  do  not  have  invitations  to  royal  feasts. 
I  have  been  in  England  a  good  many  times,  but  I  never  got 
sight  of  the  Queen,  I  believe,  and  no  invitation  came  to  me 
from  Windsor  Castle.  But  you  have  to-day  a  genuine  invita- 
tion to  a  feast ;  a  King  wants  you  there,  and  He  wants  you  to 
come  a  thousand  times  more  than  you  want  to  go. 

These  three  men,  with  one  accord,  "  began  to  make  excuse." 
Xow,  notice  the  expression :  "  began  to  make  excuse."  They 
did  not  have  an  excuse,  and  so  they  manufactured  one.  Did 
you  ever  do  that?  You've  been  invited  to  places  where  you 
didn't  want  to  go,  haven't  you?  And  you  began  to  invent  an 
excuse,  didn't  you?  The  first  thing  Adam  did  after  he  sinned 
was  to  make  an  excuse.  To  excuse  ourselves  we  generally 
give  the  poorest  one  we  can  make.  There  never  was  a  more 
cowardly  excuse  than  .Xdam  gave  :    "  The  woman  whom  Thou 

(384) 


FRIVOLOUS    EXCUSES. 


385 


gavest  to  be  with  me,  she  gave  me  of  the  tree,  and  I  did  eat." 
He  is  a  mighty  mean  man  who  hides  behind  his  wife.  You 
never  saw  a  man  who  didn't  have  some  excuse  for  his  sin,  and 
you  can  hardly  find  a  man  anywhere  who  has  not  an  excuse 
ready  on  the  end  of  his  tongue.  Ask  a  man  why  he  does  not 
become  a  Christian,  and  lie  will  have  a  ready-made  excuse  that 
the  world  never  heard  of;  it  will  roll  off  his  tongue  like  oil  ofif 
marble. 

The  first  man  who  was  invited  to  the  feast  said :  "  I  have 
'bought  a  piece  of  ground  and  I  must  needs  go  and  see  it." 
Why  didn't  he  go  and  see  the  ground  before  he  bought  it? 
I  have  no  doubt  he  had  paced  every  rod  of  it  lengthwise  and 
across,  but  when  the  time  came  to  go  to  the  feast,  he  remem- 
bered that  real  estate  transaction,  and  so  gave  that  as  an  ex- 
cuse. Perhaps  he  sent  word  back  to  the  King  that  there  was 
no  one  in  all  the  kingdom  he  would  rather  feast  with,  but 
"  Business  before  pleasure,  so  I  pray  thee  have  me  excused." 
Real  estate  and  corner  lots  keep  a  good  many  men  out  of  God's 
kingdom. 

The  next  man's  excuse  was  equally  frivolous :  "  I  have 
bought  five  yoke  of  oxen,  and  I  go  to  prove  them."  Why 
didn't  he  prove  his  oxen  before  he  bought  them  ?  But  he  had 
bought  his  oxen,  and  he  now  hid  behind  them.  Almost  every 
one  else  would  have  said,  "  I  would  rather  be  at  the  feast  than 
miss  it ;  "  but  this  man  must  prove  his  oxen,  and  away  he  went. 

The  last  man  said,  —  and  what  an  excuse !  —  "I  have  mar- 
ried a  wife,  and  therefore  I  cannot  come."  Now,  I  want  to 
ask  you  :  Did  you  ever  see  a  young  bride  in  your  life  that  didn't 
like  to  go  to  a  feast?  This  invitation  was  not  meant  for  the 
husband  alone,  but  for  the  wife  as  well.  Why  didn't  he  take 
his  wife  with  him  ?  But  he  wanted  an  excuse,  and  he  said, 
"  I  have  married  a  wife,  and  therefore  I  cannot  come." 

Now,  you  laugh  at  these  three  men.  To  you  their  excuses 
look  very  flimsy.  Let  me  tell  you  they  are  outright  lies,  every 
one  of  them.  These  men  were  lying  and  the  whole  thing  was 
a  sham. 


386  THE     MYSTERIES    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

It  is  a  sad  thing  for  a  man  to  say  that  lie  wants  to  be  ex- 
cused from  Heaven.  Life  is  very  dear  to  me.  God  has  piled 
up  l)lessings  on  top  of  one  another,  and  I  have  never  seen  a 
time  when  I  wanted  to  die.  I  want  to  live  as  long  as  God  can 
use  me.  My  work  is  sweet.  God  has  given  me  a  good  and 
affectionate  family.  I  would  rather  preach  than  be  in  Paradise. 
But.  sweet  as  life  is,  I  would  rather  be  torn  in  pieces  than  hear 
sinners  make  frivolous  excuses. 

Some  people  say,  "  Mr.  Moody,  the  reason  why  I  don't  be- 
come a  Christian  is  because  there  are  so  many  things  in  the 
Bible  I  don't  understand."  Among  such  men  I  never  found 
but  one  in  all  my  life  who  claimed  to  have  read  the  liible 
through,  and  he  could  only  quote  one  verse,  "  Jesus  wept." 
As  for  the  mysteries  in  that  I'ook,  I  am  glad  they  are  there.  If 
I  could  read  that  Book  as  I  do  any  other  ])ook,  I  would 
have  mastered  it  over  forty  years  ago.  I  am  glad  there  are 
heights  and  depths  I  have  never  been  able  to  fathom,  and 
lengths  and  breadths  no  man  has  ever  been  able  to  measure.  If 
man  wrote  that  Book,  we  could  write  another,  and  we  could 
have  thousands  of  different  Bibles.  If  I  could  understand  it 
all  it  would  be  pretty  good  proof  that  it  did  not  come  from  God. 

Now,  take  the  lawyers.  How  they  dig  at  and  study  Black- 
stone,  and  after  they  have  l)een  studying  it  ten  years  they  say 
they  have  not  mastered  it  all.  You  never  see  men  digging 
ten  years  at  the  Bible  as  lawyers  dig  at  Blackstone.  Here  is 
a  book  that  teaches  not  only  the  things  of  this  life  but  of  the 
life  to  come,  and  because  j)eo])le  cannot  luiderstand  the  T.iblc 
as  they  do  the  alphabet  they  say  it  is  full  of  contradictions  and 
mysteries. 

You  can  never  stand  at  the  bar  of  God  and  give  that  old, 
bungling  excuse  for  not  becoming  a  Christian.  Did  you  ever 
think  how  dark  this  world  w'ould  be  without  the  Bible  ?  Mil- 
lions of  men  have  gone  down  to  the  grave  because  of  their 
loyalty  to  it.  I  thank  (iod  I  live  in  a  Protestant  country 
where  I  can  read  the  Bible  ;  and  evOry  man  in  America  ought 
to  thank  God  he  has  got  this  Book,  and  he  should  stand  by  it, 


THE    HI  151, K    OUR    SAFEGUARD.  ^g^ 

and  hold  on  to  it,  and  not  i^ive  up  an  inch.  Anarchy  and 
nihihsm  would  sweep  this  whole  country,  and  neither  property 
nor  life  would  be  safe  if  it  were  not  for  the  Bible.  They  have 
tried  to  stamp  it  out,  but  God  has  raised  up  witnesses  for  it.  I 
think  it  woultl  be  a  master  stroke  of  the  devil  to  get  us  to  con- 
sent to  give  up  even  a  portion  of  it.  W  hen  a  man  leads  a  moral 
life  he  has  no  trouble  with  the  Bible ;  but  if  he  is  immoral,  it 
condemns  his  sins  and  he  begins  to  talk  against  it. 

Another  man  says,  "  It  is  not  that  I  am  against  the  Bible, 
but  I  like  to  read  the  Sunday  newspaper."  It  will  be  a  dark 
day  for  this  nation  when  the  Bible  is  given  up.  and  Sunday 
newspapers  are  read  in  place  of  it.  No  man  will  stand  at  the 
bar  of  God  and  give  that  as  an  excuse. 

"  Well,"  another  man  says,  "  1  haven't  time  to  go  to  church 
because  I  must  have  some  recreation,  and  I  spend  Sundays  on 
my  bicycle."  That  is  a  new  excuse.  Hundreds  of  people  are 
now  giving  up  the  Bible  on  account  of  "  bodily  exercise."  Put 
the  bicycle  down  as  an  excuse  that  won't  bear  presenting  in 
Eternity  at  the  bar  of  God. 

Another  very  popular  excuse  is  :  "I  don't  become  a  Chris- 
tian because  I  won't  give  up  all  the  pleasures  of  this  life.  If 
a  man  becomes  a  Christian  he  has  got  to  put  on  a  long  face,  and 
w^alk  straight  up  and  down,  and  he  has  no  pleasure  'till  he  gets 
to  Heaven."  Those  who  believe  that  are  deceiving  themselves. 
I  was  going  by  a  saloon  the  other  day  and  saw  a  sign.  '*  Drink 
and  be  Merry."  Poor,  blind,  deluded  fellows,  to  think  strong 
drink  would  make  them  merry.  If  you  want  to  be  merry  you 
must  come  to  the  living  fountain  that  bursts  from  the  throne 
of  God ;  then  you  will  have  true  pleasure.  A  man  away  from 
God  cannot  have  true  pleasure.  He  is  continually  thirsting 
for  something  he  cannot  get  —  thirsting  for  something  that 
can  quench  his  thirst,  and  he  cannot  get  it  until  he  comes  to 
the  living  fountain.  My  friends,  that  excuse  is  just  another 
wile  of  the  devil  to  keep  men  from  grace.  It  is  false.  The 
more  a  man  is  lifted  up  to  heaven  the  more  joy  and  peace  and 
gladness  he  has. 


388 


TIIK    WAV    i)F    THE    TRAXSC.RKSSOR. 


A\  hen  I  was  a  boy  I  thought  I  would  wait  until  I  was  about 
to  die  before  I  became  a  Christian.  I  thought  if  I  had  the 
consumption,  or  some  lingering  disease,  I  should  have  plenty 
of  time  to  become  one,  and  in  the  meantime  I  would  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  the  world.  My  friends,  I  was  at  that  time  under 
the  power  of  the  devil.  The  idea  that  a  man  has  more  pleas- 
ure away  from  God  is  one  of  the  devil's  lies. 

I  don't  know  how  many  times  some  one  has  asked  me, 
"  Don't  you  think  it  is  an  awfully  hard  thing  to  live  a  Christian 
life  ?  "  I  wish  I  could  say  with  tones  of  thunder :  "  No,  I  do 
not."  I  believe  the  Bible  from  beginning  to  end,  and  when  it 
says,  "  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard,"  I  believe  it.  Go 
down  to  the  brothel,  or  the  gambling  den,  or  the  whiskey  shop, 
and  see  there  a  man  bound  hand  and  foot.  He  is  a  cursed  sin- 
nc",  a  slave  to  some  passion,  some  uncontrollable  sins  have 
the  mastery  of  him.  Ask  that  man  if  he  has  an  easy  time. 
Ask  the  defaulter,  taken  from  a  beautiful  home  and  from  loving 
wife  and  children  and  put  into  prison,  if  the  way  of  the  trans- 
gressor is  easy  or  hard.  Go  into  the  court-room,  and  see  there 
the  old  white-haired  father  with  his  son,  the  latter  awaiting  his 
sentence.  Go  ask  the  young  man,  "  Is  sin  a  pleasant  friend?  " 
Sin  always  degrades  and  ])ulls  down  to  ruin.  Let  no  man  tell 
me  that  the  way  of  the  transgressor  is  easy,  and  the  way  of  the 
righteous  is  hard. 

There  used  to  be  in  the  old  Toml^s  in  New  York  city  an  iron 
bridge  that  crossed  from  the  court-room  over  to  the  city  prison. 
I  was  told  that  it  was  called  "  The  Bridge  of  Sighs."  I  asked 
the  reason,  and  the  answer  was  :  "  After  criminals  have  re- 
ceived their  sentence  they  go  over  that  bridge  to  their  cells 
weeping,  and  so  it  is  called  the  "  Bridge  of  Sighs."  Over 
the  door  was  written  "  The  Way  of  the  Transgressor  is  Hard." 

I  met  a  young  man  on  the  street,  in  New  York,  one  morn- 
ing. He  had  just  crept  out  from  one  of  the  cheap  lodging- 
houses,  and  he  looked  as  if  he  had  come  out  of  the  pit  of  hell.  T 
said  :  "The  devil  works  you  pretty  hard  now,  doesn't  he  ?"  He 
said,  "  That's  so !  "    I  pity  the  man  who  is  led  captive  by  Satan. 


SATAN    A     HARD    MASTER. 


389 


For  nian\  \  cars  I  had  been  trying-  to  get  a  man  out  of 
prison,  and  at  last  one  New  Year's  Day  the  President  granted 
our  request.  I  cannot  tell  you  the  happiness  I  felt  when  I 
heard  of  the  joy  that  came  to  that  father  and  husband  when  he 
returned  to  the  bosom  of  his  family.  Did  it  make  that  man 
gloomy  to  get  his  liberty?  Take  the  man  who  is  serving 
Satan  faithfully,  and  then  take  one  who  is  serving  Jesus  Christ, 
and  has  served  Him  for  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  and  let 
the  two  stand  side  by  side.  Then  let  them  speak.  Wouldn't 
their  faces  tell  the  story?  If  a  man  should  say  he  had  served 
Satan  for  forty  years,  and  found  him  a  good  master,  there  is 
not  a  man  that  would  believe  him,  not  one.  Let  the  man  who 
has  been  in  sweet  fellowship  with  Christ  for  forty  years  tell  of 
the  joy  he  has  found  in  His  service,  wouldn't  his  countenance 
prove  the  truth  of  what  he  said  ? 

Instead  of  taking  two  men  I  will  take  two  women  ;  for  when 
a  woman  falls  she  falls  lower  than  man.  Why?  Because  God 
lifted  her  above  men.  When  God  created  woman  she  was 
His  highest  workmanship.  Now  take  a  woman  who  has 
fallen  the  lowest,  and  let  her  stand  here  to-night,  and  then  let 
the  most  saintly  of  women  stand  beside  her.  Would  they  need 
to  speak,  to  testify  that  the  devil  is  a  hard  master,  and  the  Lord 
is  a  good  master.  ? 

Then,  there  is  another  very  common  excuse :  "  I  am  too 
wicked  to  come."  A  man  might  as  well  say,  "  I  am  too  sick 
to  have  the  doctor ;  "  but  because  he  is  sick  he  needs  the  doctor. 
Another  man  might  say,  ''  I  am  too  hungry  to  eat ;  "  and  a 
thirsty  man  might  say,  "  I  am  too  thirsty  to  drink."  It  is  be- 
cause he  is  hungry  that  he  needs  food ;  it  is  because  he  is  thirsty 
that  he  needs  water. 

During  the  Civil  War  I  was  one  of  the  delegates  appointed 
by  the  Christian  Commission  to  assist  the  doctors,  and  our 
instructions  were  to  care  for  the  worst  cases  first.  If  a  man 
was  slightly  wovinded  we  passed  him  by  ;  but  if  a  man  was 
seriously  wounded  we  helped  him  first.  And  so  I  believe  it 
is  on  the  battlefield  of  life,  —  the  man  furthest  away  from  God 
24 


^QO  THE    COMMON    PEOPLE. 

needs  help  the  most.  Let  no  one  believe  that  he  is  "  too 
wicked  "  or  "  too  bad  "  to  come  to  Christ.  If  you  can  prove 
that  you  are  a  sinner  I  can  jm-ovc  that  you  have  a  Saviour. 
Christ  came  to  call  sinners.  Suppose  the  prodigal  said,  "  When 
I  am  better  off  I  will  go  to  my  father."  No,  it  was  his  poverty 
and  rags  that  brought  him  to  him.  And  so  it  is  our  need  that 
brings  us,  or  ought  to  bring  us,  to  Him.  The  instruction  was, 
"  Go  out  into  the  highways  and  the  hedges  and  compel  them 
to  come  in."  Make  the  halt  and  the  l)lind  and  the  outcast 
come.     I  once  heard  a  man  say  : 

"  There  are  hardly  any  '  cultured  '  people  at  Air.  Moody's 
meetings.  His  audiences  are  mostly  made  up  of  the  common 
people." 

"  Thank  you  for  the  compliment,"  I  said.  "  My  Master 
ministered  to  the  '  conmion  i)eople,'  and  when  a  man  gets  above 
the  common  people  he  isn't  worth  nmch." 

What  we  want  to  remember  is  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  friend 
of  the  conunon  ])eople,  like  you  and  me,  a  true  friend  of  sinners. 
If  the  Lord  does  not  com])lain  about  your  fitness  or  appear- 
ance, vou  shouldn't  look  to  see  if  you  have  on  the  right  kind 
of  clothes.  I  used  to  notice,  during  the  Civil  War,  when  en- 
listing was  going  on,  that  scMnetimes  a  man  would  enlist  with 
a  nice  silk  hat  on,  patent  leather  boots,  kid  gloves,  and  a  fine 
suit  of  clothes ;  and  perhaps  the  next  man  who  came  would 
be  a  hodcarrier,  dressed  in  the  poorest  and  cheapest  kind  of 
clothes.  Doth  alike  had  lo  strip  and  ])ut  on  the  regimental 
uniform.  So  when  you  come  and  say  you  are  not  fit,  haven't 
got  good  clothes,  remember  that  He  will  furnish  you  with  the 
uniform  of  heaven. 

I  once  heard  of  an  artist  who  wanted  to  get  a  model  to  pose 
for  a  painting  of  the  prodigal  son.  He  went  into  almshouses 
and  prisons,  but  he  couldn't  get  one.  Going  through  the 
streets  one  day  he  met  a  poor,  wretched  man,  a  l)eggar,  and  he 
asked  him  if  he  would  pose  for  the  picture.  .\  bargain  was 
made,  anrl  the  artist  gave  him  his  address.  The  time  for  the 
appointment  arrived,  and  the  beggar  duly  appeared  and  said : 


COME    AS    voir    ARE.  3gi 

"  I  have  come  to  keep  that  appointment  I  made  with  you." 

"  An  appointment  with  mc?  "  replied  the  artist;  "  you  are 
mistaken  ;  I  have  an  appointment  with  a  beggar  to-day." 

"  Weil."'  said  the  man,  "  I  am  that  beggar,  but  I  thought 
I  would  put  on  a  new  suit  of  clothes  before  I  came  to  see  you." 

"  I  don't  want  you,"  was  the  artist's  reply,  "  I ,  want  a 
beggar." 

And  so  a  great  many  people  come  to  God  with  their  self- 
righteousness,  instead  of  coming  in  their  rags  and  just  as  they 
are. 

Some  one  has  said,  "  It  is  only  the  ragged  sinners  that  open 
God's  wardrobe."  If  you  want  to  get  a  pair  of  shoes  from  a 
passer-by  you  would  go  barefooted,  wouldn't  you?  I  remem- 
ber a  boy  to  whom  I  once  gave  a  pair  of  boots,  and  I  found  him 
shortly  after  with  bare  feet  again.  I  asked  him  what  he  had 
done  with  the  boots  I  had  given  him,  and  he  replied  that  he 
had  put  them  on,  but  he  found  that  when  he  was  dressed  up  it 
spoiled  his  business  ;  no  one  would  give  him  anything.  By 
keeping  his  feet  bare  he  got  as  many  as  five  pairs  of  boots  a 
day.  So  if  you  want  to  come  to  God,  don't  dress  yourself  up. 
It  is  the  sinner  as  he  is  that  God  wants  to  save.  Don't  let 
any  man  say  he  is  "  too  bad."  It  is  the  "  bad  "  people  we  want. 
Jesus  Christ  can  put  His  arm  down  deep  into  the  pit  and  bring 
these  bad  ones  out.  How  do  I  know  ?  Because  I  have  seen 
Him  do  it.  No  agnostic  or  infidel  can  knock  me  ofif  that 
foundation. 

I  remember  a  sailor  who  led  a  wild,  reckless  life.  When  his 
mother  was  alive  she  used  to  pray  for  him,  and  perhaps  his 
memory  of  her  sometimes  made  him  stop  and  think.  Once 
when  at  sea  a  desire  to  lead  a  better  life  came  over  him,  and 
when  he  got  on  shore  he  thought  he  would  join  the  Free 
Masons.  He  made  application,  but,  upon  investigation,  his 
character  proved  to  be  only  that  of  a  drunken  sailor,  and  he 
was  black-balled.  He  next  thought  of  joining  the  Odd  Fel- 
lows, but  his  application  met  with  the  same  fate.  While  walk- 
ing up  Fulton  Street,  New  York,  one  day,  a  little  tract  was 


592 


RINGING    TESTIMONIES. 


given  him  —  an  invitation  to  the  prayer-meeting.  He  came,  and 
Christ  received  him.  I  remember  his  getting  up  in  the  meet- 
ing and  teUing  how  the  Free  Masons  had  l)lack-balled  him, 
how  the  Odd  Fellows  had  black-balled  him.  and  how  Christ 
had  received  him  as  he  was.  A  great  many  orders  and  socie- 
ties will  not  receive  you,  but  I  tell  you  He  will  receive  you, 
vile  as  you  are  —  He,  the  Saviour  of  sinners  —  He,  the  Re- 
deemer of  the  lost  world  —  He  bids  you  come  just  as  you  are. 

I  was  once  preaching  in  the  large  Opera  House  in  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee,  and  a  gentleman  arose  in  the  meeting,  which 
was  composed  mostly  of  men,  and  said  : 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  to  say  publicly  that  I  will  accept  Jesus 
right  here  to-night." 

I  like  to  have  a  meeting  mterrupted  in  that  way,  and  I  said  : 

"  Is  there  any  one  else?  " 

Another  gentleman  stood  up  and  said : 

"  Yes,  sir.     I  accept  Jesus  to-night." 

"  Any  one  else?  "  I  said. 

And  a  young  man  about  twenty-one  arose  ;  he  had  a  hand- 
some face,  a  clear,  ringing  voice,  and  was  the  picture  of  health. 
He  said : 

"  Mr.  Moody,  1  accept  Jesus  Christ  here  to-night." 

That  was  on  Thursday  night.  From  Knoxville  I  went 
down  to  Chattanooga,  and  preached  there  the  next  Sunday 
night,  and  after  the  services  a  gentleman  came  u])  and  said  : 

"  Do  you  remember  that  young  man  w  ho  spoke  out  in  the 
meeting  last  Thursday  night  ?  " 

"  Yes,  certainly,"  I  said. 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  we  all  thought  he  was  in  perfect 
hcallli,  but  he  died  last  night." 

I  believe  I  shall  meet  first  and  last  many  who  have  settled 
this  important  question  in  my  meetings.  Speak  out  and  say, 
"  I  will." 

Another  very  popular  excuse  is  this :  "  I  do  not  want  to 
become  a  Christian  because  there  are  so  many  hypocrites  in 
the  church."     I  will  not  contradict  that  statement,  but  I  will 


HYPOCRISY    IN    ALL    PLACES. 


393 


say,  if  you  don't  become  Christians  until  all  the  hypocrites 
are  dead  you  had  better  give  up  all  hope.  The  wheat  and 
tares  will  grow  together  until  the  general  harvest.  There  are 
people  who  have  an  idea  that  a  man  must  join  a  church  to  be- 
come a  hypocrite.  Now,  if  a  man  is  living  an  impure  life  and 
passes  himself  off  as  a  pure  man,  when  he  is  not,  isn't  he  a 
hypocrite?  If  a  man  slinks  into  a  saloon  and  takes  a  drink 
"  on  the  sly,"  isn't  he  a  hypocrite?  If  a  man  is  dishonest  in 
business,  and  cheats  his  customers  every  time  he  gets  a  chance, 
isn't  he  a  hypocrite? 

Now,  I  want  to  make  sure  of  this  statement.  You  who  do 
not  want  to  go  to  church  because  there  are  so  many  hypo- 
crites, why  not  use  the  same  argument  about  your  business? 
Why  not  abandon  your  business  because  there  are  hypocrites 
in  it?  Is  there  any  profession  in  which  there  are  no  hypo- 
crites? Why  don't  doctors  say:  "I'll  not  practice  because 
there  are  so  many  quacks  among  the  doctors.''  Are  there  not 
"  shysters  "  among  lawyers?  I  think  you  will  find  some 
hypocrites  among  the  lawyers  if  you  put  on  the  same  spectacles 
that  you  use  to  look  at  church-members.  Are  there  no  hypo- 
crites among  the  grocerymen?  No  adulterating  goods  and 
passing  them  off  for  pure  articles?  No  short  weights  and 
short  measures  ?  No  manufacturer  who  puts  a  foreign  label  on 
goods  made  at  home  ?  What  political  party  do  you  belong  to  ? 
The  Democratic  party?  Are  there  no  hypocrites  among  the 
Democrats  ?  What  are  you,  —  a  Republican  ?  Are  there  no 
hypocrites  among  the  Republicans  ?  You  say  you  are  Pro- 
hibitionist. Can't  you  find  hypocrites  among  them  ?  Are  you 
an  Odd  Fellow?  Are  there  no  hypocrites  among  the  Odd 
Fellows?  None  among  the  Free  Masons?  You  won't  go  to 
church  "  because  there  are  so  many  hypocrites  there."  Why 
not  get  out  of  your  societies  and  clubs?  Are  there  not  a  lot 
of  men  who  stay  there  until  midnight  or  until  the  morning, 
go  home  half-drunk,  and  yet  pose  as  honorable  citizens? 

One  man  says,  "  Well,  I  know  a  man,  a  member  of  a  church, 
and  he  cheated  me  out  of  fortv  dollars." 


394 


MokK    FLIMSY    I'RUlMIF.rS. 


This  excuse  has  been  liis  "  stock  in  trade  "  for  the  last  ten 
years.  Speak  to  him  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  he  says, 
"  A  church  member  cheated  me  out  of  forty  dollars."  Be- 
cause a  man  has  cheated  you  out  of  money,  will  you  let  him 
cheat  you  out  of  Heaven  ? 

Another  man  says:  "  I'll  tell  you  the  reason  why  I  don't 
come  to  Christ  now,  there's  too  much  excitement.  I  don't  be- 
lieve in  this  sensational  preaching.  I  never  did.  I  want  to  l)e 
converted  in  regular  order." 

Well,  my  friend,  I  don't  care  where  or  how  you  are  con- 
verted so  long  as  you  are  converted.  Hunt  up  a  church  where 
there  isn't  any  excitement.  And  if  you  can't  find  a  church, 
there's  a  graveyard.  Go  to  a  graveyard  and  be  converted. 
My  friends,  do  you  not  see  the  "  lie,"  the  "  sham  "  in  this  ex- 
cuse? There  is  more  excitement  at  a  race  than  in  all  the 
churches  in  six  months.  Men  get  so  excited  in  the  whiskey 
shops  that  they  knock  one  another  down  ;  and  yet  when  one 
gets  a  breath  from  God  in  the  churches,  and  tries  to  lift  men 
up  and  save  them,  the  people  cry,  "undue  excitement;" 
"  fanaticism  ;  "  "  this  will  do  more  harm  than  good!  " 

Too  much  excitement !  ^^'ould  to  God  there  were  a  hun- 
dred times  more.  T  pity  a  man  that  has  knowledge,  and  has 
no  fire  back  of  it.  I  would  rather  have  zeal  without  knowledge 
than  knowledge  without  zeal.  I  pity  men  who  have  knowledge 
like  Socrates,  but  wouldn't  get  a  city  or  the  world  on  fire.  If 
you  haven't  a  desire  to  help  somebody  else,  don't  throw  stones 
at  other  people,  and  say  they  are  "  too  zealous."  If  you  see 
a  man  walking  in  his  sleep  on  a  precipitous  mountain-side, 
wouldn't  you  wake  him  up  and  warn  and  try  to  help  him? 

Another  man  says,  "  I  have  intellectual  difificulties." 

When  I  w-as  in  Scotland  I  got  hold  of  a  Scotchman  strug- 
gling with  unbelief,  and  I  asked  him  what  was  his  trouble,  and 
he  said  : 

"  I  can't  believe." 

"Whom?"  I  said. 

"  I  can't  believe,"  he  replied. 


NO    GROUND    FOR    UNBELIEF. 


395 


"  Whom?  "  I  said  again. 

"  You  don't  understand  my  case,"  he  said.  "  I  tell  you  I 
can't  believe.     I  have  intellectual  difficulties." 

He  began  to  smile,  and  was  embarrassed,  and  said  again  : 

"  I  tell  you  I  can't  believe." 

"  Can't  believe  whom  ?  "  I  said. 

''  I  can't  believe  myself,"  he  said. 

"  Thank  God,"  I  said.  "  I  am  glad  you've  got  so  far  along." 
A  man  has  gone  a  good  ways  toward  Calvary  when  he  cannot 
believe  himself. 

When  a  man  tells  me  that  he  can't  believe  the  Bible,  I 
would  like  to  have  him  put  his  hand  on  a  single  promise  that 
God  has  not  kept.  The  devil  and  man  for  six  thousand  years 
have  been  trying  to  break  God's  Word.  Until  you  can  prove 
God  a  liar  you  have  no  ground  for  your  unbelief.  I  don't  be- 
lieve a  man  has  an  inch  of  ground  to  stand  on  when  he  says  he 
can't  believe  God.  "  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things, 
and  desperately  wicked,"  but  the  God  of  that  Book  has  never 
deceived  any  one. 

Then  there  is  another  excuse :  "  I  am  afraid  I  won't  hold 
out."  Oh,  friend,  if  you  had  to  depend  on  yourself  you  could 
not  hold  out.  The  Lord  undertakes  to  do  that  for  you.  I've 
seen  men  who  started  years  before  I  did,  fifty  or  sixty  years 
ago,  and  He  has  kept  them  all  these  years.  What  God  has 
been  doing  all  these  centuries,  can  He  not  continue  to  do? 
If  Satan  comes  along  and  says,  "  You  won't  hold  out,"  tell  him 
he  is  a  liar. 

Here  is  another  excuse.  Many  say  they  would  like  to  be- 
come Christians,  but  they  "  don't  feel  like  it."  Suppose  a 
friend  should  invite  me  to  dinner,  and  I  should  say,  "  I  don't 
feel  like  it."     He  would  probably  say : 

"  Mr.  Moody,  are  you  sick  ?  " 

"  No.     I  never  felt  better  in  my  life." 

"  You  don't  want  to  come?  " 

"  Oh,  yes.  There's  not  a  man  in  the  world  that  I  would 
like  to  take  dinner  with  more  than  you." 


2q6  two  kxcuses  not  often  given. 

"  Don't  you  think  I  want  you  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes.     1  know  you  want  me." 

"  Well,  what  do  you  mean?  " 

"  Well,  1  believe  a  man  has  got  to  have  a  certain  kind  of 
feeling',  and  I  haven't  got  it.  If  1  can  work  it  up  perhaps 
to-morrow  I'll  come  around." 

Now,  God  invites  me  to  a  feast.  Let  "  feelings  "  go  to  the 
four  winds.  The  question  is :  Do  you  "a'aiit  to  come.  If  you 
do,  you  have  feeling  enough. 

There  are  two  excuses  that  men  do  not  often  give.  They 
keep  more  souls  out  of  Heaven  than  any  other  two  excuses. 
The  first  is  a  lack  of  moral  courage.  There's  a  wife  wdio  would 
like  to  become  a  Christian  but  dare  not  tell  her  husband.  She 
is  going  to  miss  Heaven  because  she  has  not  moral  courage. 
May  God  give  her  courage !  Act  up  to  your  convictions.  If 
the  world  wants  to  sneer,  let  it  sneer.  I  have  been  laughed  at 
more  or  less  for  over  forty  years,  but  it  is  like  the  dust  lighting 
on  my  face,  —  I  can  brush  it  away.  Infidels  may  mock  me. 
^\'hat  do  I  care.  They  will  soon  perish,  and  their  thoughts 
will  perish  with  them.  Men  who  ridiculed  me  over  forty  years 
ago  when  I  came  out  for  Christ  have  died  long  ago.  When 
you  see  a  man  laughing  at  another  because  he  turns  his  back 
upon  sin  and  his  old  life,  are  you  going  to  let  that  keep  you 
from  acting  up  to  your  convictions?  Sometimes  I  get  on  a 
train  of  cars,  and  some  one  in  my  hearing  begins  to  sneer  at 
Christianity,  and  tlien  I  stand  U])  for  Christ.  I  don't  know 
how  a  man  can  be  laughed  out  of  a  principle.  Many  a  man  has 
gone  down  to  a  drunkard's  grave  because  he  didn't  have 
courage  to  say  "  No  "  at  the  right  limc.  lie  had  some  con- 
science left  and  wanted  to  refuse,  but  he  couldn't  muster  up 
the  needed  courage. 

The  other  excuse  is  secret  and  besetting  sin.  There  are 
men  living  in  secret  sins  who  howl  against  religious  meetings, 
and  say  bitter  things  against  the  preacher.  Rut  the  trouble 
is  not  with  the  preacher,  nor  with  the  doctrine  he  preaches. 
Such  scoffers  know  thev  are  not  fit  for  Heaven.     If  a  man  isn't 


THE  TEST  OF  ETERNAL  TRUTH.  3^7 

fit  for  pure  society  down  here,  where  is  he  going  to  when  he 
dies  ?  When  men  are  wilhng  to  turn  from  their  sins,  they  will 
have  no  trouble  with  the  preacher  or  with  his  doctrine.  If  you 
are  living  in  sin,  make  up  your  mind  that  you  will  break  away 
from  it. 

If  your  excuse  is  a  good  one  take  it  up  to  the  bar  of  God. 
But  if  your  excuse  will  not  stand  the  test  of  eternal  truth  take 
the  advice  of  a  friend,  give  it  up. 

I  beg  of  you,  do  not  make  light  of  this  invitation  to  the 
feast.  Would  to  God  I  might  say  something  to  bring  you  to  it. 
God  wants  you  there. 

I  can  imagine  some  one  saying,  "  Thank  God,  I  haven't  got 
so  low  down  that  I  would  make  light  of  religious  things.  My 
mother  was  a  godly  woman,  and  her  example  has  followed  me, 
and  I  have  never  made  a  jest  of  religious  things."  But  if  you 
reject  this  invitation,  and  do  not  repent,  is  not  that  making 
light  of  religious  things? 

I  had  been  preaching  in  Glasgow  several  weeks,  and  on  the 
last  night  I  pleaded  with  those  people  as  I  had  never  pleaded 
there  before.  It  is  a  very  solemn  thing  to  stand  before  a  vast 
audience  for  the  last  time  and  think  you  may  never  have  an- 
other chance  to  ask  them  to  come  to  Christ.  I  told  them  I 
would  not  have  another  opportunity,  and  urged  them  to  ac- 
cept, and  I  asked  them  to  meet  me  at  that  marriage  supper. 
After  the  sermon  a  young  lady  came  into  the  inquiry-room 
and  said :  "  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  to  become  a  Christian."  I 
asked  a  young  Christian  to  talk  to  her;  and  when  she  went 
home  that  night  she  said,  "  Mother,  I  have  accepted  the  invita- 
tion to  be  present  at  the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb."  Her 
mother  and  father  laid  awake  that  night  talking  about  the  sal- 
vation of  their  daughter.  That  was  Friday  night,  and  the  next 
day  (Saturday)  she  was  taken  ill,  and  a  few  days  after  I  received 
this  letter : 

"Mr.  Moody  —  Dear  Sir:  It  is  now  my  painful  duty  to  inform 
you  that  the  dear  girl  concerning  wiiom  I  wrote  to  you  on  Monday, 
has  been  taken  away  from  us  by  death.     Her  departure,  however,  has 


398 


AN    AFFECTING    LETTER. 


been  signally  softened  to  us,  for  she  told  us  yesterday  she  was  '  going 
home  to  be  with  Jesus;  '  and  after  giving  messages  to  many,  told  us 
to  let  Mr.  Moody  and  Mr.  Sankcy  know  that  she  died  a  happy 
Christian. 

"  My  dear  sir,  let  us  have  your  prayer  that  consolation  and  needed 
resignation  and  strength  may  be  continued  tu  us.  and  that  our  two  dear 
remaining  little  ones  may  bo  kept  in  health  if  the  Lord  wills.  I  re- 
peated to  her  a  line  of  the  hymn, 

'  In  the  Christian's  home  in  glory, 
Tnere  remains  a  land  of  rest,' 
when  she  took  it  up  at  once,  and  tried  to  sing, 

'  Where  the  Saviour's  gone  before  me, 
To  fulfill  my  soul's  request.' 
"  This  was  the  last  conscious  thing  she  said.     I  should  say  that  my 
dear  girl  also  expressed  a  wish  that  the  lady  she  conversed  with  on 
Friday  evening  should  also  know  that  she  died  a  happy  Christian." 

\Mien  I  lieard  this  T  said  to  Mr.  Sankey,  "  If  we  do  nothing 
else  we  have  been  paid  for  coming  across  the  Atlantic.  There 
is  one  soul  saved,  whom  we  shall  meet  on  the  resurrection 
morning." 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

GOOD    NEWS  — GLAD    TIDINGS    OF  GREAT    JOY. 

Reading  a  Death  Warrant  —  People  Who  are  Glum  and  Melancholy  — 
Entering  Richmond  with  Gen.  Grant  —  A  Thrilling  Incident  of 
the  Civil  War  —  Two  i\Ien  to  be  Selected  for  Immediate  Exe- 
cution —  Drawing  the  Names  —  A  Startling  IMessage  that  came 
to  Richmond  —  Liberating  Forty  ]\Iillion  Serfs  —  A  Disappointed 
Preacher  —  An  Empty  Theater  —  "Herrings  for  Nothing!"  — 
Incredulous  People  —  Paying  People's  Debts  —  The  ]\Ien  Who 
Arrived  Too  Late  —  Anecdote  of  Mr.  Spurgeon  —  The  Postman's 
Knock  —  Farewell  to  the  Little  Emigrants  —  Anecdote  of  Chaplain 
Trumbull  —  Moments  of  Awful  Suspense  —  The  Name  that 
Thrilled  His  Soul  —  The  Governor's  Visit  to  a  Condemned  Con- 
vict—  A  Thrilling  Incident  —  Wrapped  in  the  English  and 
American   Flags  —  "  Fire  on  those   Flags   If  You   Dare  !  " 

THE  first  time  I  was  in  Europe  an  old  white-haired  man 
who  used  to  do  as  much  to  spread  the  Gospel  as  any 
man  I  knew  —  he  gave  me  at  one  time  ten  tons  of 
tracts  to  flood  Chicago  —  said  one  day  that  he  wished  to  ask 
a  question  of  me. 

"  What  is  it?  "  I  said. 
"What  is  the  Gospel?"  he  asked. 
"  The  Gospel  is  coming  to  Christ."  I  replied. 
"  No,"  he  said,  "  the  Gospel  is  God's  spell,  or  good  spell." 
"Well,"  I  said,  "isn't  that  coming  to  Christ?" 
"  No,"    he   answered,    "  that   isn't    the    Gospel.     You    are 
preaching  the  Gospel,  and  you  do  not  know  what  it  is." 

I  went  to  work  to  find  out  what  Gospel  meant,  and  found 
that  it  is  "  God's  spell  "  —  or  good  tidings  —  the  joyful  tidings 
of  salvation. 

No  better  news  has  come  from  heaven  to  earth,  or  ever 
will  come,  than  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.     For  eighteen 

(399) 


.QO  A    DEATH    WARRANT    OR    A    PARDON. 

hundred  years  men  of  God  have  gone  up  and  down  the  earth 
proclaiming  the  glad  tidings  and  telhng  the  good  news,  and 
yet  only  a  few  will  believe  that  it  is  good  news. 

I  have  been  preaching  day  and  night  more  or  less  for  forty 
years.  Sometimes  I  look  over  an  audience  expecting  to  see 
their  faces  light  up,  and,  I  declare,  they  look  as  if  T  had  brought 
them  a  death  warrant.  A  great  many  have  an  idea  that  the 
Gospel  is  the  most  doleful  message  that  ever  came  into  this 
world;  and  when  you  begin  to  proclaim  it,  some  men  look  as 
though  they  had  just  been  requested  to  attend  a  funeral,  or 
witness  an  execution,  or  go  into  some  plague-infested  hospital. 

I  once  heard  two  or  three  ladies  talking  about  the  Bible. 
One  lady  said  to  another: 

"  I  saw  some  of  my  friends  reading  the  Bible,  and  they 
looked  so  glum  and  melancholy."     Turning  to  me  she  said: 

"  I  don't  think  people  should  be  melancholy  when  they  read 
the  Bible;  do  you,  Mr.  Moody?" 

"  Well,"  I  replied,  "  It  depends  upon  the  kind  of  ]:)eople 
who  read  the  Bible;  if  they  are  unsaved  sinners  they  will." 

"  But,"  she  asked,  "  tell  me  why." 

"  Because  that  book  is  the  death  warrant  of  an  unsaved 
sinner;  but  if  a  man  knows  he  is  lost,  that  he  is  guilty  and  con- 
demned, and  he  comes  to  the  Saviour,  then  the  Bible  is  not  a 
death  warrant;  it  is  a  reprieve  —  it  is  a  pardon  —  it  is  good 
news,  glad  tidings." 

Every  man  who  is  unsaved  ought  to  be  sad  when  he  reads 
his  own  death  warrant,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  unsaved 
people  don't  like  to  read  the  Bible. 

During  the  Civil  War  it  was  my  privilege  to  enter  Rich- 
mond with  General  Grant's  army.  Now,  just  let  us  i)icture  a 
scene  on  a  beautiful  day  in  spring.  There  are  a  thousand  ])oor 
Union  prisoners  in  Libby  Prison.  They  have  not  heard  what 
has  been  going  on  around  Richmond;  they  haven't  even  heard 
of  Lee's  surrender.  I  can  imagine  one  of  these  prisoners  say- 
ing, "  Hark,  boys !  hark !  I  hear  a  band  of  music,  and  it 
sounds  as  if  they  were  playing 


AGONIZING    SUSPENSE.  4OI 

'  The  Star  Spangled  Banner  !  long  may  it  wave. 

O'er  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  home  of  tlie  brave  !  '  " 

By  and  by  the  sound  conies  nearer  and  still  nearer.  It  is 
the  Union  army,  —  the  boys  in  blue.  Next,  the  doors  of  the 
prison  are  unlocked;  they  fly  wide  open  and  their  comrades 
shout,  "  Boys,  you're  free  !  "    Wasn't  that  good  news  to  them  ? 

During  that  war  many  of  our  men  were  taken  prisoners  by 
the  Southern  army.  These  prisoners  had  been  suffering  in 
that  prison  for  a  long  time,  and  were  anxious  to  be  released, 
and  they  waited  day  after  day  to  hear  the  news  that  they  were 
to  be  exchanged.  One  day  word  was  brought  to  them  that 
every  man  with  the  rank  of  captain  was  to  be  taken  to  the  com- 
manding ofBcer's  headquarters.  The  prisoners  thought  that 
the  captains  were  to  be  sent  home.  Then  every  colonel 
wished  he  were  a  captain.  He  would  like  to  come  down  in 
the  ranks;  and  every  lieutenant  wished  he  were  higher  up. 
They  were  all  congratulating  these  captains,  for  they  thought 
they  were  going  back  to  their  wives  and  mothers.  They  were 
taken  to  headquarters;  every  one  of  them  expected  to  be 
paroled.     But  the  prison  officer  said: 

"  Men,  I  have  painful  news  to  tell  you.  I  am  ordered  to 
select  two  of  your  number  for  immediate  execution." 

The  feeling  that  came  over  that  company  VN-as  terrible. 
The  officers  put  the  names  of  all  the  captains  into  a  hat,  and 
one  of  them  put  his  hand  into  it  and  drew  out  the  names  of 
two  men.  He  read  the  names  he  had  drawn  —  they  were 
Sayer  and  Flynn.  The  hair  of  one  of  these  men  turned  gray 
during  the  next  night.  Our  government  heard  what  was 
going  on,  and  they  sent  this  word  to  Richmond: 

"  If  you  take  the  lives  of  those  men,  we  will  take  the  life 
of  the  nephew  of  General  Lee." 

All  at  once  news  came  to  the  two  doomed  captains,  "  You 
are  saved."     Don't  you  think  that  was  good  news  to  them? 

Now,  you  know  you  are  under  sentence  of  death.  We 
are  all  condemned  to  die!  Yet  there  is  liberty  for  every  poor 
captive  that  wants  it. 


402 


THE    DAY    OF    LIBERATION. 


Once  when  I  was  returning  from  Europe  I  met  Governor 
Curtin  on  board  the  steamer,  coming  back  from  Russia.  I 
was  much  interested  in  the  account  he  gave  of  the  Emperor 
having  hberatcd  fort}'  milHon  serfs.  We  thought  President 
Lincohi  had  done  a  great  thing  when  he  hberated  our  slaves; 
but  it  was  far  surpassed  by  that  act  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia. 
He  called  his  imperial  council  together  to  devise  some  way 
by  which  liberty  could  be  given  to  these  serfs.  They  con- 
sulted together  for  six  long  months;  and  at  last,  one  night, 
they  sent  word  to  the  Emperor  that  it  would  not  be  expedient 
or  wise  to  free  them.  That  night  the  Emperor  went  to  the 
Greek  Church  to  partake  of  the  sacrament.  The  next  morn- 
ing he  ordered  out  his  guards,  and  they  guarded  the  palace, 
and  planted  their  cannon  around  it.  At  midday  a  ukase  was 
issued  by  the  Emperor  proclaiming  freedom  to  forty  nnllion 
serfs.  They  were  made  free.  That  is  the  kind  of  proclama- 
tion I  bring  to  you,  and  what  you  want  to  do  is  just  to  believe 
in  its  truth. 

Some  years  ago  a  man  in  Europe  was  converted,  and  after 
he  had  been  a  Christian  a  little  while  he  got  so  full  of  the  good 
tidings  that  he  wanted  to  publish  them  and  tell  everybody  all 
about  it.  He  read  in  the  papers  that  many  of  the  factories  in 
some  of  the  nearby  towns  had  closed,  and  he  thought  it  would 
be  a  good  time  to  go  and  tell  the  people  of  the  good  news  he 
enjoyed.  So  he  sent  to  one  of  the  towns,  hired  a  theater  for 
one  Sunday,  and  advertised  that  he  was  going  to  preach  the 
Gospel.  He  expected  to  find  the  theater  packed;  but  there 
wasn't  a  person  there.  He  went  on  the  stage,  and  there  was 
not  a  soul  to  hear  him.  The  keeper  came  to  him,  looked  at 
him,  and  laughed.  He  thought  it  was  a  huge  joke.  The  man 
didn't  want  to  return  home  disappointed,  so  he  thought  he 
would  go  down  to  the  shore  and  see  if  he  couldn't  get  an  audi- 
ence there.  A  good  many  people  were  walking  up  and  down 
the  beach,  but  no  one  would  listen  to  him.  V>y  and  by  he  saw 
a  man  walking  along  the  beach,  and  he  had  on  his  head  a 
basket  of  fish.     He  was  crying : 


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hp:rrings  given  away. 


405 


"  Herrings,  herrings,  good  fresh  herrings,  two  for  a 
penny !" 

"  How  much  will  yon  take  for  the  lot?  "  the  man  asked. 

He  counted  the  herrings  and  said  he  would  take  eight 
shillings,  —  about  two  dollars. 

"  Well,"  said  the  man,  "  if  you  will  cry  '  Herrings  for  noth- 
ing! Good,  fresh  herrings  for  nothing!'  I  will  pay  you  for 
them."     He  accepted,  and  he  went  on  crying: 

"  Herrings  for  nothing!  Good  fresh  herrings  for  noth- 
ing." 

But  he  couldn't  get  rid  of  a  herring.  He  walked  the  whole 
length  of  the  street,  crying  "  Herrings  for  nothing!  "  but  he 
finally  stopped  and  said: 

"  I  didn't  know  there  were  so  many  fools  in  the  world." 

The  secret  was.  nobody  believed  him.  Some  were  hungry 
and  starving,  but  they  didn't  believe  they  could  get  those 
herrings  for  nothing.  At  last  he  saw  a  woman  looking  ear- 
nestly at  him  out  of  a  window,  and  he  said: 

"  Madam,  it  is  true;  these  herrings  are  given  away." 

She  came  out  of  the  house  and  he  gave  her  a  couple  of 
herrings.  Others  were  watching,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they 
had  carried  them  all  awa}-. 

Now  the  trouble  was,  they  didn't  believe,  and  that  is  the 
trouble  in  regard  to  our  preaching.  Men  do  not  believe  that 
you  can  get  "  somethmg  for  nothing."  You  can  get  the  best 
thing  in  the  world  for  nothing.  It  is  as  free  as  the  air  we 
breathe ;  it  is  "  Good  Tidings  of  Great  Joy." 

Another  man  was  converted  in  Europe  some  years  ago, 
and  he  liked  the  Gospel  so  well  he  thought  he,  too,  would  go 
and  publish  it.  So  he  started  out  and  great  crowds  came  to 
hear  him  out  of  curiosity.  He  wasn't  much  of  a  speaker,  and 
the  next  night  there  were  not  many  present,  and  the  third 
night  he  didn't  have  a  hearer.  Rut  he  was  anxious  to  pro- 
claim the  Gospel,  and  so  he  got  some  great  placards  and  posted 
them  all  over  the  tow'n,  announcing  that  if  any  man  in  that 
town  was  in  debt,  if  he  would  come  to  his  office  between  cer- 


4o6 


PAYIX(}    THE    DEBT. 


tain  hours  on  a  certain  day  with  proof  of  the  indebtedness  he 
would  pay  it.  \\\^11,  of  course  tlie  news  spread  all  over  the 
town,  but  nobody  believed  him.  One  man  said  to  his 
neighbor: 

"  John,  do  you  believe  this  man  will  pay  our  debts?  " 

"  Oh,  of  course  not;  that  offer  is  a  great  hoax." 

The  day  came,  and  instead  of  there  being  a  great  rush,  no 
one  came. 

About  ten  o'clock  a  man  was  walking  up  and  down  in 
front  of  the  office;  he  looked  this  way  and  that  to  see  if  any- 
body was  looking,  and  1)}-  and  by  he  sneaked  in  and  said: 

"  I  saw  a  notice  that  if  any  one  would  call  here  at  a  certain 
hour  you  would  pay  his  debts.     Is  there  any  truth  in  it?" 

"  Yes,"  said  the  man,  ''  it  is  quite  true.  Did  you  bring 
around  the  necessar}'  papers?  " 

"  Yes." 

After  the  man  had  paid  the  debt  he  said: 

"  Sit  down,  I  want  to  talk  to  you."  And  he  kept  him 
there  until  twelve  o'clock. 

Before  twelve  o'clock  had  passed  two  more  men  came  in 
and  their  debts  were  paid.  At  twelve  o'clock  he  let  them  all 
out,  when  they  found  other  men  standing  around  the  door,  who 
said,  sneeringly : 

"  Well,  you  found  he  was  willing  to  pay  your  debts,  didn't 
you?" 

"  Yes,  it  is  quite  true,  he  has  paid  them." 

"  Oh,  if  that's  so,  we'll  go  in  and  get  our  debts  paid,  too." 
And  they  went  in,  but  it  was  too  late. 

Now,  it  is  a  great  wonder  that  there  isn't  a  rush  of  men 
into  the  kingdom  of  God  to  have  their  debts  paid,  when  a 
man  can  be  saved  for  nothing.  To  every  one  who  is  a  bank- 
rupt sinner  —  and  you  never  saw  a  sinner  in  the  world  who 
wasn't  a  bankrupt  sinner  —  Christ  comes  and  He  says,  "  I  will 
pay  the  debt." 

Air.  Spurgeon  told  me  that  he  once  went  to  his  orphanage 
on  a  visit.     He  said  that  a  great  many  of  those  orphans  had 


"BECAUSE    THAT'S    IMEI 


407 


uncles  and  aunts  and  cousins  and  sisters  who  brought  them 
Christmas  presents.  During  this  visit  a  httle  boy  came  to 
him  and  said,  "  ]\Ir.  Spurgeon,  will  you  let  me  talk  to  you  a 
minute?"  "Yes,  my  boy.  What  is  it  you  want?"  "Mr. 
Spurgeon,  suppose  your  father  and  mother  were  dead,  and 
you  didn't  have  any  cousins,  or  aunts,  or  uncles,  or  friends  to 
give  you  pocket  money,  and  give  you  presents,  don't  you 
think  you  would  feel  bad  —  because  iliat's  )iic."  Said  Mr. 
Spurgeon,  "  the  minute  he  said  that,  I  put  my  hand  right  down 
into  my  pocket  and  took  out  the  money."  Because  that's  me! 
And  so  with  the  Gospel.  We  must  say  to  those  who  have 
sinned,  the  Gospel  is  offered  to  them. 

I  am  sure  there  is  not  one,  rich  or  poor,  high  or  low,  who 
does  not  like  to  hear  glad  tidings.  In  Ireland,  at  the  house 
opposite  the  one  where  I  was  living,  when  a  man  came  from 
the  market  with  something  that  had  been  ordered  he  would 
ring  the  bell  and  stand  waiting  for  five  or  six  minutes  before 
anyone  would  go  to  the  door.  Sometimes  ladies  and  gentle- 
men would  come  and  stand  waiting  for  the  door  to  be  opened. 
But  I  always  noticed  that  whenever  the  postman  came  and 
gave  his  double  knock,  three  or  four  would  rush  to  the  door 
at  once.     Everybody  is  fond  of  good  news  —  of  glad  tidings. 

I  once  went  from  London  to  Manchester  to  bid  some 
friends  good  bye.  When  I  arrived  at  the  railway  station  I 
saw  a  group  of  boys  around  two  little  fellows  who  were  going 
to  America.  Their  coats  were  threadbare,  with  patches  here 
and  there  carefully  covering  the  holes.  Some  good  mother, 
too  poor  to  send  them  away  in  fine  style,  had  tried  to  make 
them  as  neat  and  presentable  as  she  could.  The  boys  be- 
longed to  a  Sunday-school  in  London,  and  their  schoolmates 
had  come  to  bid  them  good  bye.  They  shook  hands  and  their 
Sunday-school  teacher  did  the  same,  and  all  wished  them  God- 
speed.    Then  their  minister  came  and  took  them  by  the  hand. 

When  they  all  had  bade  the  boys  good  bye,  a  poor  widow 
came  up  and  put  her  arms  around  the  companion  of  her  son. 
Perhaps  he  had  no  mother,  and  she  kissed  him  for  her  and 
25 


4o8 


WAITING    FOR    THE    MESSAGE. 


wished  him  good  bye.  Then  she  put  her  arms  around  the 
neck  of  the  other  boy,  and  he  put  his  arms  around  her,  and  she 
began  to  weep.  "Don't  cr}-,  mother,"  said  the  boy;  "don't 
cry:  I'll  soon  be  in  America,  and  I'll  save  money,  and  soon 
send  for  you  to  come  out  to  me;  and  I'll  have  you  with  me. 
Don't  cry."  He  stepped  into  the  car  and  when  the  train  was 
in  motion  he  put  his  head  out  of  the  window  and  cried: 
"Farewell,  mother;"  and  the  mother's  prayer  went  out: 
"  God  bless  my  boy;  God  bless  my  boy." 

Don't  you  think  that  when  he  sent  the  first  letter  to  Eng- 
land that  mother  would  run  quickly  to  the  door  when  the  post- 
man came  with  it?  How  quickly  she  would  break  the  seal. 
She  wanted  to  hear  good  news.  There  is  not  one  to  whom  a 
message  of  good  news,  of  glad  tidings,  has  not  been  sent  — 
better  news  than  was  ever  received  by  a  mother  from  a  son. 
It  is  a  message  of  glad  tidings  from  a  loving  Saviour  —  glad 
tidings  of  great  joy. 

Suppose  I  should  tell  you  that  the  angel  Gabriel  had  come 
down  from  Heaven  and  commissioned  me  to  say  that  just  one 
man  could  be  saved,  and  that  he  had  given  me  the  name.  Ah, 
there  would  be  intense  excitement,  and  each  one  would  say, 
"  I  hope  it  is  my  name.  I  hope  the  message  has  come  that  T 
may  be  saved."  You  would  want  to  know  the  name,  and  }OU 
would  like  to  have  it  your  name. 

Rev.  Henry  Clay  Trumbull  once  told  me  that  when  he  was 
a  chaplain  in  the  army  during  the  Civil  War  he  was  captured 
and  taken  to  Libby  Prison.  There  were  nine  hundred  com- 
missioned of^cers  in  that  prison  while  he  was  there.  A  little 
while  before  he  was  released  he  heard  that  his  child  was  lying 
at  the  point  of  death.  He  could  get  no  direct  tidings  from 
home,  and  he  wondered  whether  his  little  one  was  dead  or 
alive.  One  day  the  good  news  spread  through  the  prison  that 
one  man  was  to  be  paroled.  He  said  to  himself.  "  I  shall  not 
iDe  the  fortunate  one.  There  are  Brigadier-Generals,  and 
Colonels,  and  Lieutenant-Colonels  here,  men  who  outrank  me. 
There's  many  a  man  in  this  prison  who  has  more  influence  at 


GOOD    NEWS    FOR    ALL. 


409 


Washington."  The  prison  officer  appeared,  and  Mr.  Trum- 
bull said  if  every  man  had  been  stricken  Ijy  death  there  couldn't 
have  been  greater  silence.  Only  one  man  was  to  be  paroled. 
Only  one  man  was  to  be  set  free.  Only  one  man  was  to  go 
back  to  his  wife  and  children,  only  one.  And  at  last  the  prison 
officer  cried  out  "HENRY  CLAY  TRUMBULL!"  He 
said  the  name  never  sounded  so  sweet  before.  It  thrilled  his 
very  soul. 

My  friends,  I  have  better  news  than  that.  I  have  not  been 
commissioned  to  say  that  only  one  man  can  be  saved  to-night. 
Oh,  no,  I  have  got  good  news.  "  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life  freely."     There  is  salvation  for  every  man. 

I  want  to  tell  you  that  Christ  has  made  everything  clear, 
right  up  to  Heaven,  if  you  will  just  take  Him  as  your  Lord, 
as  your  Bishop,  your  Prophet,  your  Priest,  your  King.  You 
need  not  fear  death.  You  need  not  fear  the  grave.  He  will 
deliver  you  from  the  power  of  sin  if  you  will  only  let  Him 
come  into  your  heart  and  take  up  His  abode  there. 

There  w^as  a  young  man  in  a  Pennsylvania  prison  whose 
death  warrant  had  been  signed.  A  great  many  had  asked  the 
Governor  for  a  pardon  for  the  young  man,  but  he  had  refused. 
The  Governor  was  a  Christian,  and  he  thought  he  would  go 
to  the  prison  and  talk  with  the  condemned  man  and  tell  him 
that  God  was  merciful  and  would  save  his  soul.  He  said  to 
the  sheriff,  "  I  want  you  to  take  me  to  that  young  man's  cell, 
but  don't  tell  him  who  I  am  until  I  have  left  town."  He  was 
taken  into  the  jail;  the  iron  door  opened  and  he  passed  into  the 
young  man's  cell.  He  sat  down  on  the  iron  bed  and  told  the 
prisoner  that,  although  he  had  been  condemned  to  death  by 
the  law  of  Pennsylvania,  there  was  a  merciful  God  who  could 
save  him.  He  preached  Christ,  read  a  portion  of  the  Bible, 
explained  to  him  the  way  of  life,  and  then  he  got  down  on  his 
knees  and  prayed  with  him. 

Some  days  after,  the  sheriff  v/as  in  th.e  jail,  axid  the  con- 
demned man  said  to  him: 

"  \\nio  was  that  man  who  tahked  and  prayed  with  me?" 


4IO 


INTKRCKDING    FOR    A    PRISUN'KR. 


"  That  was  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania." 

The  man  turned  deathly  pale,  and  said: 

"  Sheriff,  do  you  mean  to  say  that  was  Governor  Bullock?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Oh,  sheriff,  why  didn't  you  tell  me?  Tf  T  had  known  that 
was  the  Governor,  I  would  have  fallen  at  his  feet  and  begged 
him  to  pardon  me.  ()h,  \\li\-  didn't  you  let  me  know!  If  I 
had  only  known  that,  he  would  never  have  gone  out  of  here 
without  hearing  my  plea  for  pardon." 

^h-  friends,  there  is  one  greater  than  the  Governor,  and. 
thank  God,  He  has  a  pardon  for  every  soul.  It  is  signed  and 
sealed  with  His  own  blood.  He  wants  to  pardon  every  one 
of  us. 

An  English  officer  once  told  me  the  story  of  a  young  man 
who  came  to  this  countr\-  from  England,  became  a  naturalized 
citizen,  and  afterward  went  to  Cuba,  and  was  there  in  1867 
when  a  war  broke  out.  Einally  he  was  arrested  and  taken  be- 
fore the  Military  Court  and  condemned  to  be  shot  as  a  spy. 
The  American  consul  heard  of  the  case  and  called  on  the  Eng- 
lish consul  and  laid  the  story  before  him.  and  they  found  that  he 
was  perfectly  innocent.  They  went  to  the  Spanish  command- 
ing officer  and  told  him  the  man  was  not  guilty;  but  the 
Spanish  officer  said  the  law  must  take  its  course. 

There  was  no  cable  to  Cuba  then,  and  the  consuls  could 
not  quickly  communicate  with  their  governments.  The  morn> 
ing  came  when  the  man  was  to  be  executed.  The  coffin  was 
put  into  a  cart,  and  the  condemned  man,  sitting  on  his  own 
coffin,  was  drawn  through  the  streets  of  the  city.  A  grave 
had  been  dug,  and  the  coffin  was  placed  beside  it.  The 
doomed  man  sat  on  the  end  of  the  coffin,  the  black  cap  was 
drawn  over  his  eyes,  and  the  Spanish  officer  was  ready  to  give 
the  order  to  the  soldiers  to  fire,  when  the  American  consul  and 
the  English  consul  rode  up.  The  Englishman  sprang  out  of 
the  carriage  and  took  the  British  flag  and  wrapped  it  around 
the  condemned  man;  at  the  same  moment  the  .\mcrican  threw 
the  Star  Spangled  Banner  around  him,  and  as  he  sat  there 


UXDKR    TIIK    I5AXXKR    Ol"     IIKAVKX.  41  [ 

wrapped  in  the  flags  of  two  great  nations  the  consuls  turned 
to  the  Spanish  officers  and  said,  "  hire  on  those  flags  if  you 
dare!  "  They  dared  not  fire  on  them;  there  were  two  powerful 
nations  behind  those  flags.  ]\I\-  friends,  if  you  get  under  the 
bainier  of  lieaven,  God  will  sav  to  y(Dur  enemies,  "  Vou  put 
your  hand  upon  ^My  ])eople  and  \ou  touch  ]\Ie;  they  are  the 
apple  of  jVIine  eye." 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  STANDARD  OF  MT.  SINAI. 

A  Woman  Who  Worshiped  Herself  —  The  Man  Who  Never  Sinned  — 
Swearing  "From  the  I^Iouth  Out"  —  A  Negro  Preacher  Who 
Dechned  to  Preach  a  Sermon  on  Steahng  —  People  Who 
"  Squirm  "  —  "  Aly  Boy  Richard  Thinks  It's  Wrong  "  —  Sunday 
Newspapers  —  How  Mr.  Moody  Kept  Sunday  When  a  Boy — 
Working  Seven  Days  a  Week  —  The  Drunken  Sailor  Converted  — 
"  I  am  So  Tired  !  "  —  "  That  is  My  Washerwoman  "  — ■  The  Vale- 
dictorian's Mother — Coming  to  Commencement  in  Her  Old 
Turned  Dress  —  The  Farmer's  Son  at  College  —  "Get  Away, 
Old  Man;  I  Don't  Know  You"  —  Tempted  to  Drink  —  The 
Meanest  Kind  of  IMurder  —  "  I  Can't  Go  Into  Court"  —  Story  of 
the  Opium  Smuggler — ^  The  Cashier's  Mistake  —  "  How  Far  Is  It 
To  Heaven?"- — An  Arrow  That  Went  to  the  Mark. 

OF  ALL  the  agnostics,  or  infidels,  or  skeptics  I  have 
ever  met,  I  have  yet  to  find  the  first  one  who  can  find 
fault  with  God's  law.  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  Me."  If  God  created  us,  —  and  there  must  have 
been  a  creating  power,  —  He  certainly  ought  to  have  our  ad- 
miration and  our  worship.  We  certainly  ought  not  to  worship 
a  god  made  by  our  hands  and  by  our  own  imagination.  If  God 
has  created,  then  He  should  have  the  first  place  in  our  hearts. 
I  believe  that  when  we  give  God  His  i)]ace,  and  we  take  our 
place,  then  life  begins  in  earnest,  and  we  arc  in  a  position 
where  God  can  smile  on  us,  and  shower  ui)on  us  luitold  bless- 
ings. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image."  I 
believe  the  devil  is  willing  to  let  us  worship  the  Bible,  the 
saints,  the  angels,  and  the  apostles  if  we  do  not  worshiji  the 
God  of  Heaven.     We  are  to  worship  no  image  of  God,  but  the 

God  of  the  Bible. 

(412) 


KEEP    YOURSELVES    FROM    IDOLS. 


413 


You  need  not  go  to  China  to  find  men  worshiping  idols. 
How  many  there  are  everywhere  who  bow  down  to  the  idols 
Business,  Pleasure,  Children,  Wealth,  Dress.  How  many 
have  their  minds  continually  on  the  question,  "  What  shall  I 
wear?  "  I  was  in  a  meeting  once  when  a  lady  came  in  and 
took  a  seat  near  the  front.  I  handed  her  a  h_\nin  book  but 
she  was  so  taken  up  with  herself,  looking  at  her  dress,  and 
admiring  herself  gcnerall}'  —  yuu  could  sec  it  in  her  eyes  — 
that  she  had  no  thought  of  anything  else.  She  worshijjed 
herself.  That  was  her  god.  You  can  make  a  god  of  yourself 
as  well  as  of  some  image  th.at  men  make  with  their  hands. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  (jod  in 
vain."  Men  frequently  have  more  respect  for  their  family 
than  for  the  God  of  Heaven.  I  know  a  great  many  men  who 
would  not  swear  before  their  children,  their  wives,  or  mothers, 
but  they  swear  like  pirates  when  they  get  out  of  their  sight. 
It  shows  that  they  have  more  respect  for  their  famil)-  than  for 
God.  A  man  can't  show  his  contempt  for  God  more  than  by 
swearing,  cursing,  and  blaspheming.  During  the  Civil  War 
you  could  hear  men  cursing  and  swearing  on  every  side;  but 
when  a  mother  came  to  look  after  her  wounded  son,  or  some 
saintly  woman  of  the  Christian  Commission  or  the  Sanitary 
Commission  came  through  that  camp,  —  and  they  were  like 
angels  passing  by  —  the  men  would  not  swear;  they  had  more 
respect  for  the  wife,  the  sister,  or  nurse,  than  for  the  God  of 
Heaven. 

I  met  a  man  once  who  told  me  he  had  never  sinned.  He 
said  if  he  knew  of  any  wTong  he  had  done  he  would  repent.  I 
said  : 

"  Did  you  ever  get  angry?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  but  righteous  indignation  is  all  right." 

"  Did  you  ever  swear?  " 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  you  wouldn't  ask  me  that.  Oh, 
I  don't  mean  anything  by  that.  I  only  swear  from  the  mouth 
out." 

God  says  He  will  not  hold  a  man  guiltless  that  taketh  His 


414 


THE    NKGRO    PREACHER'S    OBJECTION. 


name  in  vain,  and  when  a  man  swears  and  thinks  it  is  not  a 
sin  he  is  deluded  indeed.  No  blasphemer  shall  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God.  Do  you  believe  a  man  cursing  that  holy 
name  will  have  a  desire  to  see  Cod  face  to  face?  But  some 
say,  "  I  have  tried  to  stop  and  cannot  do  it.  When  I  get  ex- 
cited, I  swear."  I  once  met  a  man  in  the  South  and  I  labored 
with  him  because  he  swore.  He  stuck  to  it,  and  he  was  a  pro- 
fessed Christian,  too.  Xow,  I  believe  if  the  Holy  Ghost  does 
not  take  the  "  swear  "  out  of  us  our  Christianity  does  not 
amount  lo  nnich.  It  is  hard  work  to  make  me  believe  a  man 
who  swears  is  a  true  child  of  (iod. 

I  heard  of  a  negro  during  slavery  times  who  was  preach- 
ing with  a  great  deal  of  power.  His  master  heard  of  it  and 
sent  for  him. 

"  Sambo,"  he  said,  "  I  am  told  that  you  are  preaching  to 
the  negroes  with  a  great  deal  of  power." 

■'  Yes,  Massa,  the  Lord  helps  me  right  smart  sometimes." 

"  Now,  I  want  you  to  take  time  enough  to  prepare  a  good 
sermon,  and  preach  against  stealing,  because  there's  a  great 
deal  of  that  going  on  around  the  plantation.  Study  up,  and 
preach  a  powerful  sermon  against  stealing." 

Sambo's  countenance  fell  at  once.     His  master  said: 

"  What's  the  matter?  What  makes  you  look  so  downcast 
about  it?  " 

"  Well,  Alassa,"  Samlx)  re])lie(l,  "  I  don't  like  to  preach  on 
lliat  sul)ject,  'cause  it  always  throws  a  kind  of  coldness  over 
the  meeting." 

1  notice  it  sometimes  throws  a  coldness  over  the  meetings 
when  we  preach  the  Ten  Conunandments. 

My  wife  was  once  teaching  our  youngest  boy  his  Sunday- 
school  lesson.  The  lessons  had  been  for  a  few  Sundays  on 
those  kings  that  reigned  in  Israel  after  Solomon,  and  they 
had  got  as  far  as  C)nu-i  and  .\h;d).  Tlie  kings  grew  worse  and 
worse  right  along  down,  and  Ahal)  was  the  worst  of  the  lot. 
\\'hen  they  came  to  .\hab,  my  wife  said,  "  Now,  Paul,  notice 
that  this  King  ( )nn-i  was  very  bad,  and  his  son  was  worse  than 


A    BOY'S    EXAMPLE. 


4'5 


his  father;  they  kept  growing  worse.  Now,  perhaps  they  be- 
gan l)y  being  disobedient ;  "  and  she  began  to  apply  the  truth 
to  him.  The  httle  fellow  squirmed  in  his  chair  a  little  while 
and  then  said,  "  Mother,  I  think  you  are  getting  a  good  ways 
from  the  lessim."  That  is  just  the  way  with  all  of  us;  when 
the  truth  is  foreed  upon  us  how  we  sc|uirm. 

"  Remember  the  Sabbath  da}',  to  keep  it  holy."  I  think 
that  is  ver\-  clear,  and  I  believe  that  Law  is  as  binding  and  as 
nnich  in  force  to-day  as  wdien  it  was  first  uttered  at  Sinai. 
A\'hen  I  was  in  P'hiladelphia,  Richard  Newton  of  the  Episcopal 
church  told  me  his  experience.  He  belonged  to  a  Bible  class, 
and  the  teacher  was  trying  to  lead  him  to  Christ.  His  father 
kejit  his  grocer}-  store  open  on  Sundays,  and  he  worked  with 
him.  ]')}•  and  b}-  he  made  up  his  mind  to  come  to  Christ. 
After  he  became  a  Christian  he  told  his  father  he  was  willing 
to  work  until  midnight  Saturday  night,  but  he  would  not  work 
on  Sunda}-.  His  father  said,  "  \^ery  well,  young  man;  if  you 
are  too  pious  to  obey  your  father,  you  can  get  out."  The 
next  Sunda}'  was  the  hardest  da}'  of  his  life.  He  couldn't  bear 
the  thought  of  going  away  from  home.  Monday  morning  he 
w^as  lying  in  his  bed  wondering  where  he  would  go  after  break- 
fast, when  his  father  came  to  the  door  and  rapped,  and  said, 
"  Richard,  it  is  time  to  open  the  store."  He  said  he  never 
jumped  out  of  bed  and  dressed  himself  so  quickly  before  in  his 
life.  He  worked  all  the  week  and  did  everything  he  could, 
and  nothing  was  said  about  his  going  away.  On  Saturday  he 
heard  his  father  say  to  his  customers,  "  My  son  Richard  thinks 
it  is  wrong  to  keep  the  store  open  on  Sunday,  and  you  must 
buy  all  your  goods  to-day."  The  result  was,  that  not  only  his 
father,  but  his  brtjthers,  were  converted;  all  won  to  Jesus 
C"hrist  just  because  he  was  willing  to  take  his  stand. 

People  have  changed  the  Holy  dav  into  a  holiday  and  a 
day  of  recreation.  Now  for  a  fact:  If  the  Sabbath  goes,  the 
church  goes.  If  we  give  up  the  Sabbath,  we  nnist  give  up  the 
church.  If  the  church  goes,  the  home  goes.  That  is  the  next 
thing.     Destroy  the  church  and  you  destroy  the  home.     Keep 


4i6 


CHILDREN    AT    CHURCH. 


that  in  niiiul.  1  don't  believe  that  hfe  or  society  would  be  safe, 
tiiat  property  would  be  safe,  even  in  the  heart  of  a  citw  if  it  was 
not  for  the  church. 

Now  I  come  to  the  Sunday  newspaper.  Do  you  believe 
that  I  can  glorify  Ciod  by  reading-  a  paper  that  goes  out  with 
page  after  page  of  "  fun,"  that  has  page  after  page  of  "  society 
news,"  columns  of  "  suicides  and  murders,"  and  all  the  "  adul- 
tery "  cases  they  can  rake  uj)  in  the  whole  country?  And  if 
a  minister  has  gone  wrong  in  all  Christendom,  they  keep  the 
tid-bit  for  Sunday  reading.  Well,  if  you  take  such  papers  into 
your  home,  and  your  children  acquire  a  taste  for  that  kind  of 
reading,  do  you  expect  that  they  are  going  to  church  Sunday 
morning  if  they  can  get  out  of  it? 

I  will  tell  you  something  more.  I  have  traveled  a  good 
deal  and  I  suppose  I  have  been  in  the  churches  of  this  country 
as  much  as  anv  man;  and  I  want  to  say  that  you  can  go  from 
Maine  to  California  and  as  a  general  thing  you  will  see  very 
few  children  in  the  churches.  There  arc  exceptions,  but  as  a 
general  thing  the  children  are  not  there.  I  think  it  is  a  beauti- 
ful sight  to  see  a  father  and  a  mother  coming  in  with  seven  or 
eight  children  behind  them.  I  get  hundreds  of  letters  saying, 
"  Mr.  Moody,  ask  the  people  to  pray  for  my  drunken  son." 
It  seems  to  me  the  time  to  begin  is  when  thev  are  children. 
I  think  fathers  and  mothers  ought  to  bring  their  children  to 
church  with  them.  If  the  child  goes  to  sleep,  wake  him  up. 
You  say: 

"  They  don't  imderstand  the  sermon." 

What  if  they  don't ! 

"  But  their  feet  don't  touch  the  lloor,  and  they  get  tired." 

It  will  do  them  good.  My  mother  started  me  (^IT  to 
Sunday-school,  and  ke])t  me  going,  and  it  was  not  to  one  ser- 
vice only,  but  to  three.  I  went  to  church  and  heard  the 
sermon;  went  in  the  graveyard  where  my  father  was 
buried  and  ate  a  little  lunch  that  I  took  in  my  pocket;  went 
back  to  .Smiday-school.  and  after  Simday-school  went  to 
church  again;  and  did  it  all  uj)  for  the  whole  week.     I  w^as  glad 


A    LAND    WITHOUT    A    SABBATH. 


417 


when  it  was  all  over,  and  when  I  got  to  Boston  I  declared  that 
I  would  stop  going  to  church;  but  I  could  not.  When  Sun- 
day came  I  was  bound  to  go.  And  when  I  stood  at  the  grave 
of  my  mother,  one  thing  that  I  thanked  God  for  was  that  she 
made  me  go.  If  I  had  come  to  the  city  at  eighteen  years  of 
age,  without  that  training,  I  think  I  should  have  gone  down 
to  ruin. 

You  say  that  Sunday  newspapers  are  prepared  beforehand. 
Now.  if  the  papers  were  anxious  not  to  work  on  Sunday,  they 
could  get  nearly  everything  ready  on  Saturday  for  the  Monday 
paper.  You  know  I  haven't  been  around  this  world  with  my 
eyes  shut.  I  know  it  can  be  done.  They  say  there  is  no  work 
done  on  these  papers  on  Sunday.  But  see  how  maiiy  trains 
are  running  for  them,  and  how  many  boys  are  selling  them. 
If  you  have  a  conscience,  the  next  time  you  buy  a  Sunday 
paper  I  hope  it  will  rise  and  smite  you.  We  can  get  on  with- 
out Sunday  papers.  You  don't  find  in  them  wholesome  Sun- 
day food  for  soul  and  body. 

People  call  me  a  "  Puritan."  I  like  that.  I  would  rather 
stand  alone  than  go  with  the  multitude  if  they  are^  going  to_ 
ruin.  I  would  rather  be  in  the  minority  with  God  than  in  the 
niajoritv  without  Him.  France  gave  up  the  Sabbath.  How 
much  have  they  made  by  it?  In  Paris  I  found  skilled  me- 
chanics, carpenters,  bricklayers,  all  kinds  of  mechanics,  work- 
ing for  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  day.  The  capitalists  and 
monopolists  make  them  work  seven  days  in  the  week,  and  if 
they  won't  they  are  ground  down.  The  Sabbath  is  a  boon  to 
every  workingman.  I  don't  believe  in  strikes;  I  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  strikes;  but  I  confess  I  should  be  inclined  to  go  in 
and  fight  if  workingmen  were  compelled  to  do  unnecessary 
work  on  the  Sabbath.  If  you  break  down  the  Law  of  God  it- 
will  bring  ruin.  It  is  the  most  astonishing  thing  that  people 
don't  sec  it.  Take  the  criminals  and  you  will  find  that  almost 
every  one  of  them  began  his  career  of  crime  by  breaking  the 
Sabbath. 

There  are  no  people  whose  religious  influence  is  felt  more 


41 8  THE    BEST    TLME    IS    NOW. 

than  the  Scotch.  I  don't  beheve  that  any  other  four  miUions  in 
an}-  part  of  the  world  have  turned  out  so  many  stronj^  men  as 
Scotland.  Reverence  for  the  Saljbath  is  (leei)-r()oted  there. 
When  I  went  to  Cilasgow  they  jnU  up  a  l)uil(lin,q-  in  the  East 
F.iid  and  I  used  to  stay  at  the  West  End.  three  or  four  miles 
away.  They  sent  word  to  me  that  they  thought  I  would  do 
as  much  good  to  foot  it  on  Sunday  as  to  drive  a  cab  four  miles. 
They  put  me  in  that  position,  and  T  had  .qreat  respect  for  them. 

I  used  to  think  that  I  could  work  seven  days  in  a  week,  and 
I  w-as  an  older  man  at  thirty  than  at  sixty-two.  T  used  to  work 
so  hard  that  the  "  spring  "  went  out  of  me  ;  but  w  hen  I  saw  that 
I  was  violating  God's  law  I  repented  and  turned  around. 
You  can't  get  anything  out  of  me  on  Saturday.  I  take  the 
whole  day  of  Saturday  to  rest,  and  on  Sunday  I  am  as  fierce  to 
get  at  an  audience  as  I  was  at  twenty.  I  read  a  paragra])h  in  a 
newspaper  the  other  day.  that  ministers  are  not  wanted  after 
they  are  fifty;  that  is  the  dead  line.  I  don't  believe  ministers 
are  worth  much  until  they  get  to  be  fifty.  People  say  the  best 
is  behind,  that  our  heyday  is  the  past.  It  is  not  so.  1  am 
growing  young.  I  am  only  sixty-two.  In  a  paper  down  in 
Texas,  not  long  ago,  an  article  was  headed:  "Old  Moody 
here."  I  was  shocked.  Why.  I  never  felt  so  young  in  all  my 
life  as  I  do  now.  What  does  the  Bible  say?  "  Willi  long  life 
will  I  satisfy  him,  and  shew  him  My  salvation."  There  is  no 
death  to  a  true  believer.  My  heyday  is  ahead  of  me.  I  pity 
those  people  who  go  around  with  their  heads  down.  T  don't 
know  w^hy  a  man  should  be  cut  ofY  at  forty  or  fifty  unless  he 
violates  God's  law. 

You  hear  about  ministers  "  overworking."  \\W\.  they  do 
when  they  work  seven  days  in  the  week.  I  believe  that  the 
professional  man  who  w(jrks  hardest  with  his  brains  is  the 
pastor.  Look  at  the  sick  he  has  to  visit;  at  the  funerals  he  has 
to  attend.  I  wcndd  rather  preach  twelve  sermons  than  attend 
one  funeral.  If  he  has  a  heart  in  him  a  funeral  saps  his  life. 
Two  sermons  a  week,  and  then  the  pastoral  calls.  His  work 
is  never  done.     I  am  sorrv  that  most  of  them  work  seven  davs 


KKSTIXC;    ox    THE    SABBATH. 


419 


in  the  week;  that  is  where  they  make  a  mistake.  Give  the 
])od\  a  rest. 

Does  an\'  one  need  it  an\-  more  than  a  man  enc;asj^ed  in 
Christian  work?  Let  the  l)rams  liave  rest  and  _\ou  can  keep 
right  aloiii^-  twelve  months  in  the  year.  1  give  my  horses  a 
rest  If  the}-  have  to  work  Sunday  the}-  get  a  rest  on  Monday. 
We  have  a  good  man}-  horses  connected  with  the  Northficld 
farm;  our  r)0}-s'  Scliool  is  four  miles  from  the  church,  and 
the  teachers  have  to  ride.  It  was  a  problem  to  be  decided 
how  the}-  could  be  conveyed  to  church  ;  but  T  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Lord  would  make  it  up  to  us  if  we  let  some 
of  our  horses  rest  one  dav;  and  the  horse  that  works  Sunday 
gets  his  rest  on  Saturday  or  Monday.  The  horses  are  fat,  and 
fresh,  antl  strong.  A]:)pl}-  the  Golden  Rule  to  the  horse  and 
the  man  that  works  for  you.  If  you  do  they  will  speak  well  of 
you  and  testif}-  for  you. 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  th}-  mother."  Do  you  think  that 
a  \oung  n:an  who  spends  his  n.ights  in  whiskey  shops;  or  a 
young  man  who  spends  his  nights  playing  billiards,  where 
there  is  a  bar,  to  see  wdio  shall  pay  for  the  drinks;  or  a  young 
man  that  goes  to  a  brothel,  is  an  honor  to  his  father  and 
mothei-?  If  a  man  is  living  a  miserable,  selfish  life  and  never 
gives  an  evening  to  his  parents,  but  is  off  to  some  club  or 
fashionable  resort,  is  he  honoring  them?     NO. 

I  have  never  known  a  young  man  to  prosper  who  spoke 
contem])tuousl\-  of  his  parents.  There  was  once  a  young  man 
whom  I  thought  a  good  deal  of,  who  once  belonged  to  the 
Sunday-school  I  had  in  Chicago.  lie  was  as  fine  a  looking 
young  man  as  I  ever  saw-.  His  father  was  a  confirmed 
drunkard,  and  his  mother  took  in  washing  in  order  that  her 
children  might  have  an  education.  He  was  a  young  man  of 
great  promise,  and  when  he  was  in  the  High  School  he  ranked 
as  high  as  any  pupil  there.  I  had  great  hopes  of  that  family. 
But  one  da}-  the  mother  stood  out  in  front  of  her  humble  home 
with  her  washing  clothes  on,  talking  with  this  son.  He  saw 
a  young  man  coming  up  who  attended  the  High  School,  and 


420 


DEXVIXf;    HIS    MOTHER. 


he  left  his  mother  and  went  forward  to  meet  liim.     And  the 
other  boy  said : 

"Who  is  tliat  woman  you  were  talking  with?" 
"  Oh,"  he  said,  "  that's  my  washerwoman." 
He  was  asliamed  to  have  his  companion  know  it  was  his 
motlier.  When  I  heard  of  it  my  heart  sank  within  me.  I  said, 
"  That  }oung-  fellow  isn't  what  I  thought  he  was."  T  kept  my 
eye  upon  him.  Pie  made  an  utter  wreck  of  life.  I  lost  hope 
for  him  from  the  hour  he  denied  his  mother. 

Dr.  John  Hall  once  told  of  a  boy  wdio  had  been  sent  by 
his  mother  ofif  to  school,  and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to 
graduate  he  wrote  home  that  he  wanted  his  timid,  old, 
widowed  mother  to  be  there  on  graduation  day.  She  wrote 
back  she  could  not  come;  she  hadn't  a  new  dress,  and  had 
turned  the  skirt  of  her  old  one  once  and  she  couldn't  turn  it 
again.  The  boy  said  he  could  not  graduate  without  her;  she 
must  come.  He  persuaded  her  to  come.  She  wasn't  dressed 
very  well.  When  the  people  had  assembled  it  was  discovered 
that  the  best  seat  in  the  hall  was  reserved  for  somebody.  Soon 
that  young  man  came  proudly  down  the  broad  aisle  with  his 
aged,  widowed  mother  leaning  on  his  arm,  and  he  escorted  her 
to  that  seat.  She  did  not  know  that  he  had  carried  everything 
before  him,  that  he  was  \'aledictorian  of  his  class,  and  the  most 
popular  man  in  the  whole  school.  When  he  won  the  prize 
and  the  medal  was  placed  upon  his  breast,  he  slipped  down 
and  put  it  on  his  mother,  and  kissed  her,  and  said,  "  I  should 
never  have  had  it  but  for  you." 

There  was  nothing  in  President  Garfield's  life  that  touched 
me  so  much  as  when,  the  moment  after  his  inauguration,  he 
turned  and  kissed  his  aged  mother.  I  say  that  man  is  a 
miserable,  contemptible  wretch  who  speaks  sneeringly  of  his 
parents.  A  man  ashamed  of  his  old  mother!  —  God  forgive 
him.  If  you  have  a  mother,  treat  her  kindly.  She  is  the  best 
friend  you  have.  If  she  is  alive,  make  her  last  days  as  sweet  as 
you  can.  When  she  is  gone  yr)u  will  realize  that  about  haif 
the  world  is  gone. 


AX    rXC.RATEFUL    SOX. 


421 


A  poor  farmer  was  toiling  hard  to  keep  his  son  at  school. 
One  day  he  went  up  to  the  city  in  his  old  "  butternut  "  clothes 
to  sell  a  load  of  wood.  The  l)oy  was  about  fniishing  his  course 
and  the  father  w^as  trying  hard  to  raise  money  to  pay  the 
bills.  As  he  was  going  up  the  street  he  came  suddenly  upon 
his  son,  who  was  with  some  other  young  men,  dressed  in  the 
height  of  fashion.  The  father  eagerly  rushed  up  to  him  and 
said: 

"  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you,  my  boy." 

But  the  son  rudely  pushed  him  aside,  and  said: 

"  Get  away,  old  man,  I  don't  know  you." 

The  father  went  home  heart-broken  — ■  his  son  was 
ashamed  of  him.  God  pity  a  young  man  who  would  treat  his 
father  in  that  way! 

When  I  see  drinking  saloons  full  of  young  men  I  think  of 
the  white-haired  mother  back  in  the  country  somewhere;  I 
think  of  the  father  whose  head  is  bowed  with  grief  and  shame. 
You  who  live  in  the  city  ought  to  do  all  you  can  to  save  these 
young  men.  Give  them  a  kind  word,  a  helping  hand.  I  can't 
tell  you  how  lonely  I  felt  when  I  first  came  to  the  city.  No 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  or  Public  Library  that  I 
knew  of.  I  didn't  know  where  to  go.  The  stores  were  closed 
at  night,  and  I  was  out  on  the  streets,  and  my  feet  well-nigh 
slipped.  It  is  a  privilege  to  live  in  some  of  these  great  cities, 
to  help  those  who  need  help.  Many  a  young  man  who  has 
become  a  curse  to  his  parents  and  his  friends  might  have  been 
a  beacon  light  pointing  to  the  City  whose  foundation  is  the 
God  of  Heaven. 

I  remember  the  first  time  a  young  man  asked  me  to  drink. 
I  said  "  Xo."  T  told  him  I  had  promised  my  mother  that  I 
would  never  drink.  He  said,  "  You  are  tied  to  your  mother's 
apron  strings."  I  turned  round  and  gave  him  a  blow  that  al- 
most knocked  him  down.  T  am  now  over  si.xty  years  old,  and  I 
am  not  ashamed  to  say  that  I  thank  God  I  obeyed  my  mother. 
She  had  seven  sons,  and  not  one  of  us  ever  drank.  Th.e  last 
influence  a  man  forgets  is  the  teaching  of  his  mother.     Go  to 


422 


TIIK    WORST    ol"    MrRDKRKRS. 


prison  cells  —  to  the  nicii  confined  there  for  life;  tliev  can't 
forget  the  training-  and  teaching-  of  fatlier  mid  mother.  It 
follows  them  to  tne  last. 

"  Thon  shalt  not  kill."  Hate  is  a  nmrderer.  T  nsed  to 
think  that  to  the  congregations  I  addressed  it  wonld  he  out 
of  place  to  talk  abont  mnrder.  If  I  get  angry  with  a  man  and 
wish  him  dead  and  wonld  like  to  hear  that  he  was  dead,  that 
is  mnrder.  I  think  the  meanest  nmrderer  is  the  \-oung  man 
who  will  kill  his  own  father  and  mother,  and  do  it  by  inches  ; 
go  home  night  after  night  drnnk,  and  when  the  mother  remon.- 
strates,  have  him  cnrse  her,  and  tell  his  father  to  "  mind  his 
own  bnsiness";  he  "will  drink  as  nuich  as  he  ])leases,"  and 
"  come  home  when  he  gets  ready."  That  is  the  meanest  kind 
of  a  murderer.  That  man  who  murders  me  for  my  money  is 
a  prince  to  him.  How  many  young  men  are  murdering  their 
parents?  How  many  husbands  are  nuirdering  their  wives  ])y 
their  impure  lives,  by  going  ofi  into  all  kinds  of  sin  and  bring- 
ing ruin  u])oi-i  their  children;  and  the  mother  sees  it.  and  her 
heart  breaks,  and  she  sinks  under  it  and  goes  to  the  grave. 
Isn't  that  nmrder?  When  I  see  a  young  man  breaking  his 
mother's  heart  it  breaks  my  heart. 

Once  when  1  was  preacliing  in  New  ^'ork  a  boy  was 
brought  into  court  who  had  threatened  the  life  of  liis  niotlicr. 
and  she  had  handed  him  over  to  the  ])olice.  The  next  morn- 
ing she  said,  "  I  can't  go  into  comi."  and  she  fell  dead  in  tlie 
hall.     Didn't  tliat  bo}-  nuu-der  liis  mother?     ()f  course  he  did. 

"Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery."  1  would  like  to  ]iass 
over  this  commandment  and  not  toucli  n])on  it.  lUu  1  l)elieve 
that  adultery  is  coming  in  upon  us  like  a  Hood,  and  I  believe 
that  we  have  got  to  cr}-  aloud  and  spare  not.  Xow,  there  are 
very  stringent  laws  against  nmrder  and  stealing;  and  if  I 
should  be  found  guilty  of  stealing  a  hundred  dollars  1  would 
be  behind  prison  bars  befcjre  the  sun  went  down  to-night;  and 
if  I  should  deliberately  push  some  one  under  an  electric  car. 
and  he  should  lose  his  life.  T  would  be  arrested,  tried  for  nuir- 
der,  and  would  probably  be  hanged.     But  a  young  man  may 


A    DARK    SIX. 


423 


make  fair  promises  of  iiiarriat;e  and  ruin  a  woman's  soul  and 
body,  and  yet  hold  his  head  high  in  society.  In  the  sight  of 
God  isn't  his  sin  darker  and  deeper  than  stealing,  or  even 
murder?  And  yet.  how  man_\-  men  make  light  of  it.  Think  of 
the  untold  wretchedness  and  agony  and  woe  caused  1)\-  that 
cursed  sin.  I  firmly  believe  that  the  most  infernal  sin  that  the 
sun  shines  on  to-day  in  America  is  the  way  a  so-called 
"  fallen  ''  woman  is  treated.  She  has  been  wronged,  ostra- 
cised from  society,  cast  out  and  dragged  down  by  the  hounds 
of  hell;  and  the  man  that  wronged  her  holds  his  head  high  and 
walks  down  the  aisles  of  the  church.  He  is  not  ostracised. 
That  is  a  sin  that  God  will  punish  some  day.  Do  you  think 
the  adulterer  is  going  to  get  clear?  Do  you  think  God  isn't 
going  to  bring  him  to  judgment?  I  have  not  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt.  The  Bible  shows  that  no  adulterer  can  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God.  For  a  man  or  woman  to  profess  to  be  a 
son  or  daughter  of  God  and  then  turn  awa}-  into  this  sin  and 
think  that  they  are  never  going  to  be  brought  to  judgment  is 
to  be  under  a  terrible  delusion  of  the  devil.  There  is  no  escape 
from  the  law  of  God;  He  has  appointed  a  day  when  He  will 
judge  the  people  in  righteousness.  Down  deep  in  my  heart  I 
pity  any  man  who  has  ruined  a  woman.  God  have  mercy  on 
him.  And  I  pity  any  woman  that  will  try  to  lead  away  an- 
other woman's  husband,  and  blight  a  family,  and  break  up  a 
happy  home.  God  have  mercy  on  the  woman  that  will  do 
that. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  steal."  Xo  thief  is  going  to  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God  who  does  not  repent  and  make  restitution. 
T  believe  a  great  many  men  and  women  are  kept  out  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  because  they  are  not  willing  to  make  some- 
thing right  in  their  past  lives.  They  have  been  guilty  of  some 
dishonest  act.  A  great  many  men  get  into  the  church  and 
never  make  any  progress;  they  never  grow.  T  have  heard 
ministers  say.  "  Isn't  it  strange?  What  is  the  trouble? " 
Ninety-nine  times  out  of  a  hundred  there  was  something  in 
their  past  lives  that  they  didn't  straighten  out. 
26 


424 


OFF    HIS    CONSCIENCE    AT    LAST. 


I  hope  the  time  will  come  wlun  a  man  will  be  ostracised 
just  as  much  if  he  steals  a  large  sum  as  if  he  steals  a  small  sum. 
Suppose  he  is  president  of  a  bank,  or  jjresident  of  an  insurance 
company,  and  steals  money  belonging  to  widows  and  orphans. 
I  tell  you  that  watering  stocks  and  bonds  and  selling  them  to 
poor  ])eoplc  and  then  "  freezing  them  out,"  as  they  call  it.  is 
stealing.  There  are  a  good  man\-  more  thieves  than  some 
people  imagine,  and  there  must  be  a  good  deal  of  restitution 
in  this  country  before  we  can  have  a  very  deep  work  of  grace. 
If  a  man  is  a  thief,  treat  him  as  a  thief,  and  don't  make  fish  of 
one  and  tlcsh  of  another. 

When  I  was  in  Canada  a  man  told  me  that  when  he  was  a 
boy  a  man  gave  him  by  mistake  a  piece  of  money  tliat  was 
called  in  Canada  a  "ten  shilling"  piece;  it  was  just  al)out  the 
size  of  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  and  it  was  gold.  Instead  of  giving 
the  boy  a  silver  one  shilling,  as  intended,  tlie  man  gave  liini  a 
gold  ten  shilling  piece  by  mistake,  and  the  boy  kept  it.  The 
next  day  ihc  man  came  back  to  the  bo\-  and  said,  "  When  i 
made  change  with  you  yesterda\ ,  didn't  T  give  you  a  ten 
shilling  piece  instead  of  a  one  shilling  piece?  "  "  No,  sir,  you 
did  not."  For  forty-three  years  that  man  had  that  on  his  con- 
science. At  last  the  spirit  of  (lod  got  hold  of  him,  and  he  just 
figured  u])  the  interest  and  handed  principal  and  interest  to  an 
orphan  asylum,  and  so  got  it  off  his  conscience  at  last.  If  you 
have  anything  on  your  conscience,  slraiglUen  it  out  at  once. 
If  your  mind  goes  1)ack  to  some  transaction  with  xour  neighl)or 
in  which  you  cheated  him,  pay  back  every  dollar  at  once. 

I  was  preaching  in  liritish  Colund^ia  some  years  ago  and  a 
n'.an  came  to  see  me  who  said  he  wanted  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian; but  he  stated  thai  lie  liad  l)een  snniggling  o])iuni  into 
the  United  States.     He  said: 

"It  will  take  everything  I  have  to  make  restitution.  I 
have  a  young  wife  and  little  children,  and  I  don't  know  what 
they  will  say." 

"I  will  tell  you  what  your  wife  will  say:  she  will  tell  you 
to  do  right,"  I  said. 


MAKING    RESTITUTION.  425 

"  Will  you  go  up  and  see  her?  "  he  asked. 

"  Yes,"  I  said,  "  I  will  go." 

His  home  was  prettily  furnished  with  good  furniture,  paid 
for  with  the  money  that  he  had  got  by  smuggling.  I  said  to 
his  wife: 

"  Are  you  willing  to  have  all  this  sold  and  start  life  over 
again?"     The  tears  ran  down  her  cheeks,  and  she  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  am  willing  to  give  up  everything  T  have  to 
get  right  with  God,  and  to  have  my  husband  get  right  with 
Him.     I  knew  my  husband  had  been  smuggling." 

Everything  in  that  house  was  sold,  and  that  woman  took 
the  last  penny  out  of  her  pocketbook  and  added  it  to  the 
restitution  money.  They  owned  a  building  lot  over  the  border 
line,  in  Seattle,  and  the  man  sold  it  for  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars,  and  I  brought  the  money  on  to  Washington.  The 
light  broke  in  upon  that  family.  That  is  the  kind  of  Chris- 
tianity we  want.     If  you  have  stolen,  make  restitution. 

Some  years  ago  I  met  a  prominent  banker  who  said,  "  I 
want  you  to  tell  me  how  to  become  a  Christian."  I  told  him, 
and  I  thought  he  came  out  for  Christ  in  a  very  decided  way ; 
but  one  night  we  iiad  a  Consecration  meeting,  and  he  went 
away.  Just  as  he  left  me  he  said,  "  I  didn't  enjoy  that  meeting. 
It  seems  as  if  God  does  not  want  me  or  anything  I  have."  I 
said,  "  My  friend,  there's  something  wrong  in  your  life.  Go 
alone  and  ask  God  to  reveal  it  to  you."  The  man  w^ent  away, 
and  in  his  closet,  on  his  knees,  he  remembered  he  had  swindled 
the  government  in  a  transaction  in  Montana.  He  figured  up 
the  amount,  went  down  to  the  express  office  and  sent  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  to  the  United  States  Treasury  as  "  Conscience 
Money."  He  said,  "  Xo  sooner  had  that  money  gone  from 
my  hands  than  my  conscience  gave  me  the  greatest  joy."  If 
you  have  stolen,  go  at  once  and  make  restitution.  If  you  have 
a  penny  that  belongs  to  some  one  else,  return  it. 

Perhaps  some  clerk  has  taken  money  from  his  employer, 
successfully  covered  up  his  tracks,  and  no  one  knows  it  but 
the  all-seeing  eye  of  God.     But  he  can't  be  converted  unless 


426 


CONFESSION    AND    RKl'ARATlON. 


he  makes  restitution.  It  may  be  that  he  has  sciuandcred  the 
money,  and  can't  make  restitution;  but  it  is  his  duty  to  go 
right  to  the  man  he  injured  and  confess  it. 

A  man  who  had  rob])ed  his  emjjloyer  of  five  hundred 
dollars  came  to  one  of  our  ministers  and  told  the  story.  lie 
wanted  to  become  a  Christian,  but  there  was  the  five  hundred 
dollars  right  in  his  mind  all  the  while. 

"  Well,"  said  the  minister,  "  your  path  is  very  clear;  you 
must  pay  back  the  money." 

"  But,"  said  the  man,  "  I  can't  ])ay  it  back." 
"  Then  vou  nuist  go  to  your  empk)yer  and  confess  it." 
"  JUit  my  employer  is  a  hard-hearted  man,  and  if  I  confess 
it  he  will  put  me  in  prison." 

"  Well."  «aid  the  minister,  "  I  will  go  and  see  him." 
He  went  into  the   office  of  the   man   and   told   the   story. 
"  Now,"  the  minister  added,  "  I  have  reason  to  believe  that 
that  man  has  been  converted  of  his  sin.     I  believe  if  you  will 
forgive  it  and  give  him  a  chance  you  may  save  his  soul,  and 
he  will  work  and  pay  back  the  money."     Hie  eni])loyer  said: 
"  He  shall  never  hear  a  word  from  me." 
The  result  was  that  the  man  became  a  Christian. 
I  was  once  perfectly  amazed  at  a  (piestion  that  was  put  to 
me  to  decide.     A  man  went  to  a  bank  and  received  ten  dollars 
more  than  he  asked  for,  and,  ui)on  discovering  the  mistake,  he 
took  the  ten  dollars  back.     His  friends  called  him  a  "  fool." 
They   said   the   cashier  had   made   the   mistake;   and   the   man 
asked  me  if  I  didn't  think  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  taking  the 
money  back.     What  kind  of  a  conscience  has  a  person  who 
asks  such  cpiestions  as  that?     Of  ccnu-se  the  money  didn't  be- 
long to  the  man  who  took  it.     Apply  the  Golden  Rule.     The 
idea  of  asking  such  a  question,  and  asking  me  to  decide  the 
case,  as  if  I  were  judge,  jury,  and  lawyer. 

One  of  the  students  in  our  institution  at  Chicago  rode  on 
a  street  car  and  got  off  before  the  conductor  came  along  to 
get  his  five  cents.  His  conscience  troubled  him.  He  hap- 
pened to  know  the  face  of  the  conductor,  and  he  tool<  the  five 


A    (JOOI)    INVESTMENT.  ^27 

cents  to  him.  The  conductor  called  him  a  "  fool."  Was  he 
a  "fool?"  He  would  have  been  a  thief  had  he  retained  it. 
He  had  had  his  ride,  and  that  five  cents  didn't  belong  to  him. 
It  belonged  to  the  company. 

I  will  tell  you  the  sequel  of  that.  The  conductor  called 
him  a  "  fool,"  and  the  student  answered,  "  I  am  a  Christian." 
And  the  conductor  asked  him  to  his  house,  and  he  and  his 
wife  were  converted.  The  conductor  had  confidence  in  the 
young  man.  He  believed  in  him.  When  the  people  of  Ciod 
set  their  faces  to  do  right,  the  world  will  have  confidence  in 
their  Christianity.  It  is  these  little,  mean  tricks  we  are  con- 
stantly doing,  —  things  not  upright,  that  hurt  the  cause  of 
Christ. 

Some  time  after,  the  student  with  some  others  attended  a 
meeting.  They  had  their  Bibles  with  them,  and  as  they  got 
on  a  car  a  lawyer  who  wanted  to  make  fun  of  them  stepped 
up  to  this  young  man,  and  said,  in  a  sneering  way: 

"  How  far  is  it  to  Heaven?  "     And  the  young  man  replied: 

"  Just  one  step.     Out  of  Self  into  Christ." 

As  the  young  men  got  off  the  car,  the  student  whispered  to 
the  lawyer: 

"  Generally  when  a  man  is  inquiring  about  the  distance  to 
a  place  he  is  traveling  towards  it.  I  hope  you  are  traveling 
that  way." 

The  arrow  reached  its  mark.  Weeks  after,  the  lawyer 
came  to  the  institution  and  wanted  to  find  that  young  man. 
He  didn't  know  his  name,  but  he  described  him  as  best  he 
could.     They  found  him,  and  the  lawyer  said: 

"  I  want  you  to  pray  for  me.  I  have  not  had  any  peace 
since  that  night." 

All  came  from  the  five  cents.     It  was  a  good  investment. 

A  man  once  came  into  one  of  our  meetings  who  wanted  to 
become  a  Christian,  but  he  said  he  had  taken  money  belonging 
to  his  employer,  and  he  wanted  to  know  if  he  could  not  go  into 
business  and  pay  that  money  back. 

"  No." 


428  THE    STOLKN    MOXKY. 

"Why  not?" 

"  Because  you  can't  pray  over  yuur  business  and  ask  God 
to  help  you.     You  can't  pray  over  stolen  money." 

I'he  next  night  he  wanted  to  make  a  com])romisc. 

"  No,  the  only  thing-  is  to  pay  back  that  money." 

"  I  haven't  got  enough."  he  said. 

"  Pay  all  you've  j^ot.  Live  on  ])read  and  water  and  jiay 
back." 

He  didn't  like  the  terms.  T'inally,  he  came  with  a  long^ 
envelope  in  which  was  nine  hundred  dollars  and  his  watch. 
He  had  cleaned  himself  out.  I  got  the  two  partners  together 
in  a  private  room  and  told  them  Ikuv  he  had  been  taking 
money  from  them,  and  I  said: 

"  That  is  all  he  has  left.  There  is  the  nine  hundred  dollars. 
There  is  his  watch.  There  is  the  money  that  his  wife  had  in 
her  pocketbook.  And  \et  it  is  short.  X<n\-  he  throws  him- 
self on  your  mercy,  ^'ou  can  put  him  in  the  penitentiary  if 
you  want  to." 

They  said  they  didn't  want  to  do  that:  for  a  man  who  is 
trying  to  do  right  should  be  helped.  And  Itoth  employers 
prayed  for  him. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness  against  thy  neighbor." 
Tove  will  not  slander  or  lie.  How  often  we  have  felt  the  sting 
of  the  slanderer's  tongue,  and  our  lives  have  been  made  bitter 
bv  some  lie.  I  think  one  of  otu'  naticjual  sins  is  the  wav  that 
men  in  office  are  abused.  I'here's  not  a  man  that's  not 
slandered.  I  believe  as  a  general  rule  our  j)ul)lic  men  have 
been  good  men;  the  Pr(\sidcnts  in  my  day  have  been  good  men. 
l!ut  what  false  and  slanderous  reports  have  been  started  about 
them !  Let  us  keep  in  mind  that  if  we  hear  evil  or  false  reports 
of  a  man,  and  we  take  them  wp,  and  start  them  along,  and  ])ush 
them  on.  we  are  equally  guilty. 

If  you  have  lied  about  a  man,  if  ynu  have  slandered  him. 
if  you  have  abused  him,  go  and  tell  him  what  you  have  done, 
and  ask  his  forgiveness.  I  felt  much  encouraged  one  night 
U'hen   a   man   came   into   the   inquiry-room    and    said,    "  Mr. 


ASKING    FORGIVENESS. 


429 


Moody,  I  want  you  to  forgive  me."  "  Why,"  said  I,  "  I  have 
nothing  to  forgive  you  for;  I  never  met  you  before."  "  Well," 
said  the  man,  "  I  have  been  abusing  you  pretty  hard  for  about 
a  year.  I  was  here  last  night  and  I  got  converted,  and  I  want 
to  ask  your  forgiveness." 

"  Thou  shalt  not  covet."  Love  is  not  covetous.  I  have 
heard  people  say,  "  I  wonder  why  some  people  have  so  much, 
and  I  so  little."  Oh.  we  must  not  l)e  covetous,  for  it  is  against 
the  law.     Let  us  ask  God  to  write  this  law  on  our  hearts. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

LOVE    AND    SYMPATHY. 

Won  to  Jesus  by  a  Smile  —  "  That  Man  Must  be  a  Minister  "  —  Tlie 
Best  lor  the  Money — Light  from  the  Celestial  Hills  —  No  Heart 
so  Hard  but  Love  will  Soften  It  —  A  Theory  Upset  —  "I  Ain't 
Never  Comin'  to  This  Sunday-school  no  More  "  —  Bearing  on  the 
"  Curiosity  "  Chord  —  Making  up  a  Bundle  for  Johnny  —  Don't 
Want  to  go  to  Heaven  if  Grandfather  is  There  "  —  Going  West 
to  Get  Rid  of  the  Neighbors  —  "  I  Suppose  It's  my  Duty  to  Say 
Something"  —  "Now,  Moody,  You  Are  All  Wrong"  —  The 
Power  of  a  Loving  Word  —  A  Story  of  the  Civil  War  —  "For 
Charlie's  Sake"  —  "This  Is  Papa's  Friend"  —  The  Kiss  of  a 
Child  — "I  Don't  Want  Your  ]Mf)ney  "  — Melted  to  Tears  at  the 
Name  of  "  Brother  "  —  Put  Yourself  in  His  Place. 

WHEN  I  was  ill  London  a  minister  said  to  nic  one 
night :  "  Mr.  Moody.  I  want  you  to  pray  for  a 
family  who  will  be  at  the  meeting  to-night."  When 
I  arrived  at  the  hall  I  saw  in  one  corner  a  father,  mother,  and 
four  or  five  children.  I  prayed  for  them.  When  I  got  home 
I  asked  the  minister  about  the  family,  and  he  told  me  they  had 
been  won  to  Jesus  by  a  smile. 

He  said  that  one  day  he  was  passing  by  a  house  at  the 
window  of  which  a  little  child  was  standing,  lie  was  very 
fond  of  children,  and  he  smiled  to  the  child  and  bowed.  The 
minister  was  in  the  habit  of  passing  the  house  e\ery  day,  and 
the  second  time  he  i)assed  he  noticed  the  child  and  smiled 
again.  The  next  time  there  were  several  children  there,  and 
he  smiled  and  bowed  again.  When  he  came  again  the  same 
children  were  standing  there,  and  a  lady  was  standing  with 
them.  He  thought  it  w^ould  not  be  (|uite  right  to  bow  to  the 
lad\-.  so  he  smiled  again  at  the  children,      'idle  lady  said  to  her 

(430) 


THE    CHARM    OF    A    LOVINCi    LOOK.  431 

little  ones,  when  she  saw  him  looking  so  pleasant,  "  That  man 
must  be  a  minister.  1  want  you  to  follow  him  the  next  time 
he  comes,  for  I  am  sure  he  is  a  minister."  When  he  came 
round  again  the  children  followed  him  through  several  streets, 
until  he  went  into  an  Independent  church.  The  children  fol- 
lowed him  right  in  and  they  brought  home  a  good  report. 
They  said  they  never  heard  such  a  preacher,  although  probably 
they  didn't  understand  a  word  he  said.  But  you  know  a  little 
pat  on  the  head  and  a  kindly  look  goes  a  long  way  with  chil- 
dren. Well,  the  result  was  that  the  mother  came,  and  she 
brought  the  father.  They  all  became  converted,  and  thus  a 
whole  family  were  brought  to  Christ  l)y  a  smile. 

My  friends,  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  every  minister  had  a 
smile  on  his  face.  There  are  more  men  driven  away  from 
churches  by  sour  looks  than  by  almost  anything  else.  A 
minister  ought  to  have  a  clear  conscience,  and  he  would  have 
a  pleasant  smile.  Some  of  you  may  say,  "  Well,  Christ  was 
melancholy,  and  wept  over  sinners."  Ah,  but  He  wept  for 
love.     There  is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  weeping  in  his  love. 

If  our  hearts  go  out  toward  men  and  we  love  them,  they  will 
be  drawn  toward  us  and  we  shall  win  them  to  Christ.  We 
must  win  them  to  us  first.  The  last  time  I  heard  Dr.  Arnott 
speak  he  used  a  homely  illustration.  Said  he.  "  Those  of  you 
who  were  brought  up  on  a  farm  will  understand  when  you  wean 
a  calf  you  must  teach  it  how  to  drink.  You  take  a  bucket  of 
milk  and  put  your  fingers  in  the  calf's  mouth,  and  when  he  has 
got  a  good  hold  you  gently  \n\\\  his  nose  right  down  into  the 
milk.  Then  you  slip  your  fingers  out,  and  the  calf  is  drinking 
before  he  knows  what  he  is  doing,  x^nd  so."  he  said.  "  if  you 
want  to  win  peoi)le  to  Christ  you  must  go  lovingly  to  them  and 
lead  them  gradually  to  Him." 

We  want  to  believe  that  the  love  of  Christ  is  the  best  thing 
we  can  have.  If  a  man  wants  to  buy  a  horse  he  goes  around 
till  he  finds  the  best  horse  he  can  get  for  his  money.  If  a 
woman  wants  to  buy  a  new  dress,  she  goes  from  one  store  to 
another  and  searches  till  she  finds  the  best  dress  she  can  buy 


432  POLITE    INSINCERITY. 

for  the  money.  That  is  the  human  nature  the  world  over. 
So  if  we  can  show  sinners,  l)y  love,  that  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  best  thing  to  have,  we  can  win  the  world  to  us. 

lUit  there  is  a  good  deal  of  wh„t  might  l)c  called  sham  love. 
People  profess  to  love  you  very  much,  when  it  is  all  on  the  sur- 
face. It  is  not  heart  love.  How  often  have  you  been  in  a 
friend's  house,  and  the  servant  came  in  and  announced  to  the 
mistress  that  somebody  was  waiting  to  see  her  in  the  front 
room  ;  and  she  says  : 

"  Oh.  dear.  I  am  so  sorry  he  has  come  ;  I  can't  bear  the  sight 
of  that  mail  "  ;  and  she'll  get  right  up  and  go  into  the  other 
room  and  say : 

"  Why,  how  do  you  do  ?     I  am  so  glad  to  see  you  !  " 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  that  sort  of  thing  in  the  world.  I 
remember  talking  with  a  man  one  day.  and  an  ac(juaintance  of 
his  came  in,  and  he  jumped  right  up  and  shook  him  by  the 
hand  —  wh_\-.  I  thought  he  was  going  to  shake  his  hand  off,  he 
shook  so  hard,  and  he  seemed  to  be  so  glad  to  see  him,  and  he 
coaxed  and  urged  him  to  stay  ;  but  the  man  said  no.  he  would 
come  another  time  ;  and  after  that  man  went  out  my  com])ani()n 
turned  to  me  and  said : 

''  W'ell,  he  is  an  awful  Ixjre.  and  I  am  glad  he's  gone." 

I  began  to  feel  that  I  was  a  bore,  too ;  and  I  got  out  as 
quickly  as  I  could.  That  is  not  real  love  ;  that  is  love  with  the 
tongue,  while  the  heart  is  not  true.  Now,  let  us  not  love  in 
word  and  in  tongue.  Init  in  deed  and  in  truth.  That  is  the  kind 
of  love  God  gives  us,  and  he  wants  the  same  in  return. 

T  like  to  see  in  a  Christian's  face  the  light  that  comes  down 
from  the  celestial  hills  of  glory.  To  love  those  who  abuse 
them  is  wliat  the  Master  did  ;  and  if  we  have  His  spirit,  we  will 
certainly  love  those  who  do  not  love  us.  I  don't  believe  there 
is  a  man  living  whose  heart  is  so  hard  but  that  love  can  break 
it.  A  friend  of  mine  who  had  a  large  Sunday-school  had  a 
theory  that  he  would  never  turn  a  boy  out  of  the  school  on  ac- 
count of  bad  conduct.  "  I  considered,"  said  he.  "  that  those 
boys  who  behaved  badly  in  Sunday-school  had  not  had  the  ad- 


AX  un.mAi\A(;ka]!LK  pupil. 


433 


vantages  of  a  good  bringing  up.  and  for  that  very  reason  ought 
not  to  be  turned  out.  I  found  t)Ut,'"  said  he,  "  that  it  was  one 
thing  to  have  a  theor_\-  and  another  io  put  it  into  practice." 

On  one  occasion  a  boy  came  into  his  Sunday-school  who 
nearly  upset  his  theory.  He  put  him  under  one  teacher  and 
nothing  could  be  done  with  him  ;  he  put  him  under  another 
teacher,  and  the  result  was  just  the  same.  wSo  he  made  up 
his  mind  to  expel  him,  and  do  it  pul)licl}',  and  let  the  whole 
school  know  that  he  was  expelled.  But  a  lady  teacher  came 
to  him  and  said  : 

"  I  wish  you  would  let  me  have  that  boy." 

"  But,"  said  he,  "  he's  such  a  bad  boy,  and  uses  vulgar 
language.  Not  one  of  those  men  can  do  anything  with  him, 
and  I  am  sure  you  can't." 

"  Well,  I  am  not  doing  as  much  as  I  ought  to  for  Christ,  and 
it  may  be  that  I  can  win  him." 

She  was  a  lady  of  wealth  and  refinement,  and  he  thought 
she  wouldn't  have  patience  with  him.  He  gave  her  the  boy, 
and  for  a  few  Sundays  he  behaved  very  well ;  l)ut  one  Sunday 
he  behaved  badly,  and  when  she  corrected  him,  he  spat  in  her 
face.     She  quietly  took  her  handkerchief  and  wiped  her  face. 

"Johnny,"  she  said,  "  I  wish  you  would  go  home  with  me. 
I  want  to  talk  with  you." 

"  Well,  I  won't.  I  won't  be  seen  on  the  street  with  you,  and 
what's  more,  I  ain't  never  comin'  to  this  Sunday-school  no 
more." 

"  Well,  if  you  won't  walk  home  with  me,  let  me  walk  home 
with  you." 

"  No,  I  wouldn't  be  seen  on  the  street  with  you,  and  I'm 
not  coming  to  this  old  Sunday-school  again.'' 

She  knew  if  she  was  going  to  reach  him  she  must  do  it  then, 
and  she  thought  she  would  try.  Sometimes  when  you  can't 
reach  people  in  any  other  way,  you  can  do  it  by  exciting  their 
curiosity.     So  she  said  : 

"  Tf  you  should  come  to  my  house  next  Tuesday  morning  T 
shall  not  be  there,  but  if  3'ou  come,  ring  the  front  door  bell  and 


434  CONQUKRKI)    BV    LOVE. 

tell  the  servant  there  is  a  Httle  Inuidlc  on  my  bureau  for  you.  and 
she  will  i;ive  it  to  you." 

"  I  don't  want  it.  Keep  your  old  l)undle." 
"  But  she  thought  he  might  change  his  mind.  He  thought 
it  over,  and  the  more  he  thought  about  it  the  more  he  wanted 
to  know  what  w-as  in  that  bundle.  So  he  went  up  to  the  house 
on  Tuesday  morning  and  the  bundle  was  handed  to  him.  In  it 
was  a  little  vest,  a  little  necktie  that  she  had  made  witli  lier  own 
hands,  and  a  kind  note  which  read: 

"Dear  Johnny:  Ever  since  you  liave  been  in  my  class  I  have 
prayed  for  you  every  morning  and  evening  that  you  might  be  a  good 
boy.     I  love  you  and  want  you  to  stay  in  my  class.     Do  not  leave  me." 

Before  she  was  up  the  next  morning  a  servant  came  to  her 
door  and  told  her  that  a  boy  was  in  the  drawing-room  and 
wanted  to  see  her.  She  went  down  and  found  Johnny  weeping. 
She  spoke  to  him  kindly,  and  asked  : 

"  What  is  the  trouble.  Johnny?  " 

"  Oh,  teacher."  he  said.  "  I  have  had  no  peace  since  I  got 
that  note  from  you.     I  want  you  to  forgive  me." 

"  Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  me  pray  that  Jesus  may  make 
you  a  Christian?  "  she  asked. 

And  she  kneeled  do\\n  and  prayed  with  him  ;  "  And,"  said 
the  superintendent.  "  after  that  there  was  not  a  better  boy  in 
the  school."     Love  conquered  him. 

I  want  to  tell  you  a  secret.  There  are  two  classes  of  old 
peoi)le  :  some  that  are  getting  cross  and  crabbed  in  their  old 
age,  and  some  that  are  growing  sunny  and  bright.  You  some- 
times see  an  old  man  who  is  all  the  time  living  on  the  past, 
nursing  his  troubles,  and  grumbling  and  finding  fault  with  his 
lot;  and  he  grows  cross  and  crabbed,  and  kee])s  things  around 
him  uncomfortable  for  everybody.  —  a  man  who  is  looking  into 
the  future  with  dark  forebodings  and  with  great  anxiety.  You 
have  heard  of  the  boy  who  didn't  want  to  go  to  heaven  if  his 
grandfather  was  going  there,  because  he  was  always  saying, 
"  Tut.  tut,  don't  do  this,  or  don't  do  that."  T  know  a  grand- 
father who  fitted  up  a  room  with  all  the  toys  and  things  that  a 


GOOD    OR    BAD    NEIGHBORS. 


435 


cliild's  heart  could  wish,  aiul  then  said  to  his  grandchildren, 
"  Go  in  there  and  get  all  you  want."  If  any  of  you  grand- 
fathers and  grandmothers  find  any  crossness  or  crabbedness 
coming  on,  just  nip  it  in  the  bud.  There  are  a  good  many 
children  like  the  girl  who  said  her  name  was  ''  Emma  Don't  " ; 
they  nagged  her  so  much  with  "'  Emma,  don't  do  this,"  and 
"  Emma,  don't  do  that,"  that  she  thought  her  name  was 
"  Emma  Don't." 

Many  years  ago  when  there  was  a  good  deal  of  emigration 
to  what  was  then  called  "  out  West,"  a  man  in  Connecticut 
started  for  Ohio.  To  the  hotel-keeper  who  was  questioning 
him  he  said  he  was  going  West  to  get  rid  of  his  neighbors  and 
surroundings.     Said  the  hotel-keeper  : 

"  You  will  find  the  same  sort  of  people  out  there." 

"  I  hope  not." 

"  But  you  will." 

He  went  on.  After  awhile  another  man  came  to  the  same 
hotel,  and  he  had  a  conversation  with  the  same  hotel-keeper, 
and  he  asked  : 

"  What  takes  you  West?  " 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I've  got  a  family  of  boys,  and  they  are 
growing  up,  and  I  am  afraid  they  will  slip  ofif  W\'st  and  leave 
me  all  alone,  and  I  thought  I  would  live  out  there  and  have 
my  family  with  me  ;  but,"  said  he,  "  the  hardest  part  of  leaving 
is  to  part  from  such  good  neighbors  as  I  had  in  Connecticut." 

"  Well,"  said  the  hotel-keeper,  "  yoti  will  find  just  such 
people  wherever  you  go." 

See  the  point?  Have  you  got  good  neighbors?  If  not, 
whose  fault  is  it?  If  you  have  bad  neighbors,  when  you  go 
home  look  in  the  looking-glass  and  you  will  find  the  man  who 
is  to  blame. 

Love  must  be  the  motive  power  in  all  our  actions.  If  our 
actions  are  merely  performed  from  a  sense  of  duty  God  will 
not  accept  them.  I've  heard  this  word  duty  in  connection 
with  Christian  work  till  I  am  tired  of  it.  I  have  been  in  meet- 
ings where  some  one  has  got  up  and  asked  a  brother  to  speak. 


436 


LO\K    AND    DUTY. 


After  considerable  persuasion  he  would  rise  and  sa\- :  "  Well. 
I  did  not  mtend  to  speak  when  I  came  here  to-night,  but  1 
suppose  it  is  my  duty  to  say  something'."  It  is  the  same  with 
the  Sunday-school ;  many  teachers  take  up  classes  merely  from 
a  sense  of  duty.  There  is  no  love  in  them,  and  their  services 
go  for  nothing.  Let  us  throw  a  little  love  into  our  actions, 
and  then  our  services  will  be  acceptable  to  God. 

Suppose  I  should  tell  ni}-  wife  tliat  I  loved  her  because  it  is 
ni\-  dut\'  —  what  would  she  say?  When  my  mother  was  liv- 
ing" 1  was  in  the  habit  of  going  to  see  her  every  year.  Suppose 
I  had  said  to  her,  "  ^Mother,  you  were  very  kind  and  good  to 
me  when  I  was  young;  when  father  died  you  worked  hard 
to  keep  us  together,  and  so  I  have  come  to  see  you  because  it 
is  my  duty."  Don't  }'ou  think  she  would  have  said,  "  Well, 
my  son,  if  }-ou  only  come  to  see  me  because  it  is  your  duty,  you 
need  noL  come  again."  And  that  is  the  way  with  a  great  many 
of  the  servants  of  God.  They  work  for  Him  because  it  is  their 
duty  —  not  for  love.  Let  us  abolish  this  word  duty,  and  feel 
that  it  is  unl}  a  privilege  to  work  for  God,  and  let  us  try  to  re- 
member that  what  is  done  merely  from  a  sense  of  duty  is  not 
always  acceptable  to  Him. 

One  night  when  I  had  been  speaking  in  this  way  in  London 
a  minister  said  to  me  after  the  services:  "  Now,  Moody,  you 
are  all  wrong.  If  you  take  the  word  duty  out  from  its  con- 
nection with  our  works  you  will  soon  have  all  the  churches  and 
Sunday-schools  empty." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  T  will  try  and  convince  you  that  I  am 
right.     You  are  married  ?  '' 

"  Yes." 

"  Well,  suppose  this  was  your  wife's  birthday,  and  you 
bought  a  book  for  a  present  to  her,  and  you  went  home  and 
said,  '  Now,  wife,  this  is  your  birthday ;  I  thought  it  was  my 
duty  to  buy  something  for  you  —  so  here's  a  book ;  take  it.' 
\\'f)uld  vour  wife  not  be  iustificd  in  refusing  it  .■"  " 

"  Well."  said  he,  "  1  think  }ou  are  correct;  she  would  be 
right  in  refusing  it." 


HKLPFUL    WORDS. 


437 


That  wife  would  appreciate  a  present  given  through  love, 
not  duty.  What  Christ  wants  is  that  we  shall  work  for  Him 
because  we  love  Him. 

You  ilo  not  know  how  far  a  loving  word  wilj  go.  When 
I  went  to  Chicago  years  ago  I  remember  how  I  walked  up 
and  down  the  streets  trying  to  find  a  situation  ;  and  I  recollect 
how,  when  they  roughly  answered  mc,  their  treatment  chilled 
my  soul.  lUit  when  some  one  would  say:  "  I  would  like  to 
help  you,  but  I  can't;  but  you  will  be  all  right  soon,"  I  went 
away  happy  and  light-hearted.  That  man's  sympathy  did  me 
good.  I  believe  there  are  thousands  who  are  waiting  for  some 
one  to  come  and  offer  a  little  sympathy.  They  want  someone 
to  take  them  by  the  hand  and  help  them. 

In  Detroit,  at  an  international  convention  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  Judge  Olds  w'as  present  as  a  dele- 
gate from  Columbus.  One  evening  he  was  telling  about  the 
mighty  power  that  Christians  summon  to  their  aid  in  this  pe- 
tition "  for  Christ's  sake !  "  "  in  Jesus'  name !  "  and  he  told  a 
story  that  made  a  great  impression  on  mc.  \\'hen  the  Civil 
War  came  on,  he  said,  his  only  son  left  for  the  army,  and  he 
became  suddenly  interested  in  soldiers.  Every  soldier  that 
passed  by  brought  his  son  to  remembrance ;  he  could  see  his 
son  in  him.  He  went  to  work  for  the  soldiers.  When  a  sick 
soldier  came  to  Columbus  one  day,  so  weak  he  couldn't  walk, 
the  Judge  took  him  in  a  carriage,  and  got  him  into  the  Soldiers' 
Home.  The  Judge  became  President  of  the  Home,  and  he 
used  to  go  down  every  day  and  spend  hours  in  looking  after 
the  soldiers,  and  seeing  that  they  had  every  comfort.  He  spent 
on  them  a  great  deal  of  time  and  a  great  deal  of  money.  One 
day  he  said  to  his  wife,  "  I'm  giving  too  much  time  to  these 
soldiers.  I  must  stop  it.  There's  an  important  case  coming 
on  in  court,  and  I've  got  to  attend  to  my  own  business."  He 
said  he  went  down  to  his  office  that  morning  resolved  in  future 
to  let  some  one  else  take  care  of  the  soldiers.  After  a  while  the 
door  opened  and  a  soldier  hobbled  slowly  in.  The  man 
fumbled  at  something  in  his  breast  pocket,  and  pretty  soon  he 


438  A.    SON'S    APPEAL. 

produced  an  old  soiled  paper  and  handed  it  to  the  Judge.  The 
father  saw  it  was  in  his  own  son's  writing,  and  this  is  what  it 
said : 

"Dear  Father,  —  This  young  man  belongs  to  my  company.  He 
has  lost  his  leg  and  his  health  in  defense  of  his  country,  and  he  is  going 
home  to  his  mother  to  die.     If  he  calls  on  you  treat  him  kindly, 

"  For  Charlie's  sake." 

"  For  Charlie's  sake."  The  moment  he  saw  that  a  pang 
went  to  his  heart.  He  got  a  carriage,  helped  the  maimed  soldier 
in,  drove  home,  put  him  into  Charlie's  room,  sent  for  the  family 
physician,  kept  him  in  the  family,  and  treated  him  like  his  own 
son.  When  the  young  soldier  was  well  enough  to  go  home, 
he  took  him  to  the  railway  station,  put  him  in  the  most  com- 
fortable place  in  the  car,  and  sent  him  on  his  way  home  to  his 
mother.  "  I  did  it,"  said  the  old  judge,  "  for  Charlie's  sake." 
Now,  whatsoever  you  do,  my  friends,  do  it  for  the  Lord  Jesus' 
sake.  Do  and  ask  everything  in  His  name  ;  in  the  name  of 
Him  "  who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us." 

The  world  wants  sympathy  about  as  much  as  anything. 
The  Son  of  God  passed  by  the  mansions  and  went  down  into 
a  manger  that  he  might  sympathize  with  the  lowly.  If  a  man 
knows  you  are  in  sympathy  with  him,  his  heart,  however  hard 
it  may  be,  will  be  broken.  A  gentleman  came  to  me  one  day 
to  get  me  interested  in  a  young  man  just  released  from  the 
penitentiary.     T  said  : 

"  Bring  him  in." 

The  gentleman  brought  him  in,  and  I  took  him  by  the  hand 
and  told  him  I  was  glad  to  see  hini.  I  invited  him  to  my 
house  and  introduced  him  to  my  family  as  my  friend.  When 
my  little  daughter  came  into  the  room,  I  said  : 

"  Emma,  this  is  papa's  friend." 

She  kissed  him,  and  the  man  sobbed  aloud.     I  said:_ 

"  What  is  the  matter?  " 

"  Oh,  sir,  I  have  not  had  a  kiss  for  years.  The  last  kiss  I 
had  was  from  my  mother,  when  she  was  dying.  T  thought  I 
should  never  have  one  again."     His  heart  was  broken. 


LONGING    FOR    SYMPATHY. 


439 


Another  young  man,  just  out  of  the  penitentiary,  came  to 
see  me,  and  after  I  had  talked  with  him  for  some  time  he  didn't 
seem  to  think  I  was  in  sympathy  with  him.  I  offered  him  a 
httle  money. 

"  No,"  he  said,  "  I  don't  want  your  money." 

"  What  do  you  want?  " 

"  /  zcajit  some  one  to  have  confidence  in  nic!  " 

I  knelt  down  and  prayed  with  him,  and  in  my  prayer  I 
called  him  "  brother,"  and  he  shed  tears  the  moment  I  called 
him  brother. 

So  if  we  are  going  to  reach  men  we  must  make  them  believe 
we  are  their  brothers.     We  must  put  ourselves  in  their  places. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  FUTURE  STATE  — HEAVEN  AND  WHERE  IT  IS — 
ITS  INHABITANTS  AND  RICHES -SHALL  WE  KNOW 
EACH    OTHER    THERE? 

The  Future  State  —  Wliat  the  Bible  Says  About  Heaven  —  "  Every- 
where "    Meant    "Nowhere"- — How    Far    Away    is    Heaven? 

Heaven  a  Locality  —  A  Glimpse  of  the  Heavenly  World  —  The 
Dying  Soldier  —  An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Life  —  The  Vacant 
Chair  —  After  the  Funeral  —  "Where  is  My  Mamma?"  —  Read- 
ing His  Own  Record  —  An  Incident  of  the  Civil  War — Calling 
the  Roll  of  Heaven  —  The  Dying  Soldier  Who  Answered, 
"Here  !  Here  !"  —  An  Old  Scotchman's  Answer  —  "This  Is  All 
Mine"  — Dying  as  He  had  Lived  —  The  Man  Who  Could  Talk 
of  Nothing  but  Corner  Lots  —  The  Card  with  a  Gold  Border  — 
A  Question  Often  Asked  of  Mr.  Moody  —  Shall  We  Know  Each 
Other  in  Heaven?  —  The  Recognition  of  Friends  There  —  They 
Do  Not  Lose  Their  Identity  — "We  Shall  be  Satisfied." 

THERE  is  a  class  of  people  who  tell  us  that  we  know 
nothing  about  the  future  state,  and  that  it  is  useless  for 
us  to  speculate  about  it.  Now,  there  is  one  thing  wc 
do  know,  and  that  is,  that  we  are  not  going  to  stay  in  this 
world  very  Jong.  T  was  preaching  in  Providence  many  years 
ago,  and  recently  ])reached  there  again.  A  good  many  men 
that  sat  by  my  side  all  through  the  earlier  meetings  were  gone. 
1  missed  them.  I  saw  nine  men  sitting  in  the  front  row,  all 
of  them,  I  should  judge,  living  on  borrowed  time. —  the  time 
allotted  to  them,  three  scorej^ears  and  ten^  having  already  run 
out.  They  knew  their  pilgrimage  here  was  nearly  over,  and 
that  they  would  soon  go  hence. 

When  I  was  in  Dublin  T  heard  (A  a  little  boy  who,  while 
being  taught  in  one  of  the  mission  schools,  had  foimd  Christ. 
He  fell  ill  and  died^  and  his  father,  a  poor  workingman.  who 
had  never  looked  into  the  Bible,  was  heart-broken.  They  told 
him  that  Johnny  had  gone_to_Ueayen.     "  Well."  he  said,  "  I 

(440) 


LEARNING    THE    WAY. 


441 


4 


am  ,L;i''"ii  to  follow  him^"  And  every  night  he  took  a  tallow- 
dip  into  his  room  and  studied  his  Bib[e.  Four  years  after  the 
boy's  death  the  father  might  have  been  seen,  still  reading  his 
Bible  night  after  night.  If  you  had  asked  him  what  he  was 
looking  for  he  would  have  told  you  he  was  learninp;-  the  way. 

to  Heaven  where  his  Johnny  had  gone.     It  was  a  sensible 

thing  to  do.  _ 

Now  the  moment  you  talk  about  Heaven,  some  people 
say,  "  I  wish  you  would  talk  about  something  else.  What  do 
you  know  about  Heaven? '"  Do  you  think  that  God  Almighty 
would  have  said  so  much  in  the  Bible  about  Heaven  if  He 
^^ished  us  to  remain  in  ignorance  about  the  future  state? 

I  was  on  my  way  to  a  meeting  one  night  with  a  friend,  and 
he  asked,  as  we  were  drawing  near  the  church: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  what  are  you  going  to  preach  about?  " 

"  I  am  going  to  preach  about  Heaven."  I  noticed  a  frown 
on  his  face,  and  I  said,  "  What  makes  you  look  so?  " 

"  Wh}-.  your  subject.  What's  the  use  of  talking  upon  a 
.'^iibliTt   that's  all  speculation?     It's  onl\-  wasting  time*^' 

Men  who  say  that  this  subject  is  all  speculation  have  not 
read  their  Bibles.  .Vllusions  to  it  are  scattered  all  through 
the  blessed  Book.  If  I  were  to  read  to  you  all  the  passages 
upon  Heaven,  from  Genesis  to  Revelation,  it  would  take  me 
all  night  and  to-morrow  to  do  it.  I  think  if  there  is  any  book 
in  the  world  that  can  tell  us  anything  about  our  future  state, 
we  certainly  ought  to  be  interested  enough  to  read  it. 

If  I  were  going  to  a  foreign  land  to  spend  tht  rest  of  mv 
days  there,  I  would  like  to  know  all  about  its  climate,  its  in- 
habitants, their  customs,  their  privileges,  and  their  govern- 
ment. Everything  about  that  land  would  interest  me.  Sup- 
pose you  were  going  to  Africa,  or  Alaska,  or  China,  to  make 
one  of  those  places  your  home,  and  that  I  had  just  come  from 
one  of  those  countries,  how  eagerly  you  would  listen  to  me.  I 
can  imagine  how  the  old  gray-haired  men.  and  the  young  men, 
and  even  the  deaf,  would  crowd  around,  and  put  up  their  hands 
to  learn  something  about  it. 


442 


THE    CITY    OF    ETERNAL    LIFE. 


^ly  friends,  where  are  you  goin^  to  spend  eternity?  Your 
life  here  is  very  brief.  Life  is  but  an  inch  of  time,  a  mere  fiber 
that  will  soon  be  snapped,  and  you  will  be  ushered  into  eter- 
nity. Where  are  you  going  to  spend  it?  If  we  are  going  to 
spend  our  future  life  in  Heaven,  it  becomes  us  to  trv  to  find 
out  all  we  can  about  it. 

There  is  nothing  that  we  hold  on  to  as  we  do  to  life.  A 
man  will  go  all  around  this  world  in  search  of  health  to  add  a 


few  vears  to  his  life^  ^I^ook  at  the  circles  broken  by  death. 
Look  at  the  hospitals  for  the  insane,  the  imbecile,  the  idiotic. 
Look  at  the  homes  made  dark  and  wretched  by  sin.  Think 
of  the  world's  misery  and  woe.  Look  at  the  wretchedness  that 
can  be  found  in  any  of  our  cities.  But  oh,  how  sweet  life  is ! 
With  what  tenacity  we  cling  to  it.  Yet  we  know  that  this  life 
is  but  for  a  day.  Not  a  day  passes  without  funeral  proces- 
sions winding  through  the  streets.  Look  at  the  bending  forms 
of  men  and  women  tottering  to  the  grave.  No  little  village 
but  has  its  burial  plot.  But  there  is  one  city  in  the  universe 
of  (iod  without  a  cemetery;  one  city  w'ithout  a  hearse;  one 
city  where  there  is  no  night,  no  sorrow,  no  weeping;  one  city 
where  Death  never  enters,  where  there  is  no  separation,  where 
there  are  no  gray  hairs  and  bending  forms.  There  ])erpetual 
\'Outh  is  stamped  upon  every  brow;  there  lliey  live  on  and  on 
forever,  a  life  as  pure  as  God's  life,  and  as  lasting  as  God's  life. 
It  is  in  the  reach  of  everyone. 

Soon  after  I  was  converted  a  pantheist  got  hold  of  me  and 
tried  to  draw  me  l)ack  to  the  world.  I  don't  know  a  worse 
man  than  he  who  tries  to  i)u]l  young  Christians  down.  He  is 
nearer  the  borders  of  hell  than  any  man  T  know.  When  this 
man  knew  I  had  found  Jesus  he  tried  his  best  to  pull  me  down. 
He  argued  with  me,  and  as  I  did  not  know  the  Bible  very  well 
then,  he  got  the  best  c)f  me.  IMie  only  way  to  get  the  best  of 
these  atheists,  pantheists,  cr  inlulels  is  to  have  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  the  Bible.  Well,  this  pantheist  told  me  God  was 
everywhere  —  in  the  air,  in  the  sim,  in  the  moon,  in  the  earth, 
in  the  stars,  but  he  reallv  meant  nowhere.     And  the  next  time 


THK    RKALITV    UF    HEAVEN.  443 

I  prayed  it  seemed  as  if  I  was  not  praying  anywhere  or  to 
anyone. 

Heaven  is  a  destination  —  it  is  a  localj^^-.  Some  people 
say  there  is  no  Heaven,  and  some  will  tell  you  that  this  Earth 
is  all  the  Heaven  we  have.  How  low  a  man  has  fallen  when 
he  comes  to  that  conclusion  !  We  have  ample  evidence  in  the 
Bible  that  there  is  such  a  place  as  Heaven,  and  we  have  abun- 
dant manifestation  that  His  influence  from  Heaven  is  felt 
among  us.  He  is  not  with  us  in  person;  only  in  spirit.  The 
sun  isabout  q,S,ooo,ooo  miles  from  the  earth,  yet  we  feel  its 
rays.  A  great  many  people  might  ask,  "  How  far  away  is 
Heaven?  Can  you  tell  us  that?  "  I  don't  know  how  far  away 
it  is,  but  there  is  one  thing  I  do  know:  He  can  hear  our 
prayers  as  soon  as  the  words  are  uttered.  There  has  never 
been  a  prayer  said  that  He  has  not  heard;  not  a  tear  shed  that 
He  has  not  seen.  We  don't  want  to  le-arutlip.  di'^tanrp —  Wioat- 
we  want  to  know  is  that  God  is  there,  and  the  Rible  tells  ns 
that  He  is. 

We  are  not  in  darkness  about  the  future  state.  Do  you 
suppose  God  is  going  to  let  His  children  wander  around  in 
darkness,  not  knowing  whether  they  shall  make  Heaven  their 
home,  or  be  banished  forever  from  His  presence?  The  Bible 
says,  "  From  the  place  of  His  habitation  He  looketh  upon  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,"  and  "  Look  down  from  Thy  habi- 
tation, from  Heaven."  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  idea  that 
Heaven  is  everywhere,  but  nowhere  in  particular.  I  believe 
it  is  a  localit}-  as  much  as  is  Boston.  It  is  a  city  as  much  as 
London  or  Paris.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  God  is  a  person, 
and  if  He  is  a  person.  He  must  have  a  dwelling-place. 

Then  we  find  in  RevelatTon^that  it  is  called  j^crh-,  and  we 
find  Abraham  looking  for  that  "city  whicli  hath  foundations. 
whose  builder  and  maker  is  God."  He  iK-lievcd  that  was  real. 
The  well-watered  plains  of  Sodom  did  not  have  any  attraction 
for  Abraham.  Why?  Because  with  the  eye  of  faith  he  saw  a 
better  country. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  John's  description  of  that 


.,,  -XO    NIGHT    THERE." 

place:  "And  the  twelve  gates  were  twelve  pearls;  every  sev- 
eral  gate  was  of  one  pearl :  and  the  street  of  the  city  was  pure 
gold,  as  it  were  transparent  glass.  And  I  saw^  no  temple 
therein  :  for  the  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the 
temple  of  it.  And  the  city  had  no  need  of  the  sun.  neither  of 
the  moon,  to  shine  in  it :  for  the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it. 
and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.  And  the  nations  of  them 
which  are  saved  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  it :  and  the  kings  of 
the  earth  do  bring  their  glory  and  honor  into  it.  And  the 
gates  of  it  shall  not  be  shut  at  all  by  day :  for  there  shall  be  no 
night  there."  On  a  little  gravestone  in  a  cemetery  where  a 
blind  child  was  buried  was  inscribed  these  words : 

She  lived  in  perpetual  night  here  —  in  perpetual  darkness  :  but 
the  thought  that  filled  her  mind,  that  animated  her  and  lifted 
her  up  out  of  her  troubles  and  sorrows  was  that  she  was  going 
to  a  land  where  there  was  no  night. 

I  have  had  this  question  raised :  "  What  does  Paul  mean 
about  the  third  heaven?  Are  there  three  degrees?  "  Now. 
the  Hebrews  in  their  writings  acknowledge  three  lieaj^ens. 
The  first  was  where  the  showers  come  from  and  where  the 
birds   flv.     The    second   was    the   firmament    where   the   sun, 


moon,  and  stars  are.  The  thjrd  was  the  dwelling-place  pf  (^^r>c] 
When  Paul  spoke  about  the  third  heaven  that  is  what  he 
meant___ 

I  firmly  believe  that  Stephen  was  not  the  last  man  that 
looked  into  Heaven.  Many  in  your  day  and  mine  have  had  a 
glimpse  of  that  world.  I  knew  an  infidel,  whose  wife  was  an 
infidel  also.  They  had  one  little  girl,  and  the  father  told  me 
himself  that  he  didn't  know  where  she  ever  heard  the  name  of 
God.  excepting  in  blasphemy.  At  length  the  father,  mother, 
and  a  neighbor  stood  around  her  dying  bed,  and  a  heavenly 
glory  illumined  her  face.  She  was  so  young  she  could  not  speak 
plainly.  Her  name  was  Julia.  Just  before  she  breathed  her 
last  she  reached  out  her  little  thin  hands,  and  said,  "  Dulie  is 


'CARRY    ME    OVER    THE    MOUNTAINS." 


445 


coming,  God !  "'  Didn't  that  little  girl  look  into  the  Eternal 
City?  How  many  times  have  we  seen  loved  ones  passing 
away,  and  it  seemed  as  if  Heaven  burst  upon  us.  Many  have 
looked  into  Heaven  since  Stephen  did. 

I  knew  a  mother  whose  ItTITe  boy,  as  he  was  dying,  said : 

*'  W^hat  mountains  do  I  see  yonder,  mother?  " 

''  There  are  no  mountains  there,  my  child."  she  said. 

"  Yes,  there  are,  mother,  don't  you  see  them?  Please  take 
me  over  in  your  arms." 

And  the  mother  knelt  and  prayed,  and  told  her  boy  that 
Jesus  would  be  with  him.     Then  he  said : 

"Mother,  don't  you  hear  them?  " 

"  Hear  whom,  my  child?  " 

"  Hear  the  angels,  mother.  They  are  just  on  the  other  side 
of  the  mountains.     Carry  me  over  the  mountains,  mother." 

"  I  can't  do  that,  my  child,"  she  said.  "  The  Saviour  will 
take  you  over.     Jesus  will  be  with  you." 

And  then  he  breathed  a  little  prayer,  and  faintly  said: 

"  Good-bv,  mother,  Tesus  has  come  to  carrv  me  over  the 
mountains."  and  the  little  sufferer  was  gone. 

If  we  were  filled  with  the  spirit.  Heaven  would  be  very  real 
to  us.  A  soldier  in  a  soldier's  meeting  during  the  Civil  War 
related  this  incident.  His  brother  came  to  him  one  day  and 
said  he  had  enlisted.  He  went  to  the  recruiting  ofBce  and  put 
his  name  down  next  to  his  brother's.  They  had  never  been 
separated.  They  were  in  the  same  Company,  marched  to- 
gether, tented  together,  messed  together,  and  were  in  a  number 
of  battles  together.  At  last,  in  the  battle  of  Perryville,  a  bullet 
passed  through  his  brother's  body.  He  could  not  stay  with 
him,  but  putting  his  knapsack  under  his  head  he  made  him  as 
comfortable  as  he  could,  and  started  on.  As  he  turned  re- 
luctantly away,  his  brother  called: 

"  Qiarlie.  comeback/' 

"  ^yhat  do  you  want,  brother?  " 

''  Kiss  me  on  my  lips."  he  said.  '  and  take  that  kiss  home 
t£»  mother,  and  tell  her  I  died  praying." 


446 


A    GLIMPSE    OF    THE    GLORY    BEVONU. 


As  he  was  turning  away  lie  heard  his  wounded  brother  say: 

"  This  is  glorious!  " 

\Miat  is  glorious?  " 
»"  Oh,  I  see  Christ  in  Heaven!  " 

Lying  in  a  pool  of  his  own  life  blood,  he  looked  up  and 
caught  a  glimpse  of  the  glory  beyond.  I  believe  if  we  are  in 
the  Spirit  when  the  hour  of  death  conies  we  may  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  glory,  too. 

There  is  a  class  of  people  who  say  that  the  soul  becomes 
unconscious  and  sleeps  until  the  resurrection.     I  cannot  be- 
lieve that._  There  is  another  class  who  tell  us  that  there  is  no 
h.crcafter  at  all,  and  that  when  wc  die  that  is  the  las^of  us. 
V  Xow,  if  a  man  receives  eternal  life  when  he  is  converted,  and 

^  *  » that  is  what  God  says  he  receives,  how  are  you  going  to  bury 

^  -."'^  eternal  life  in  the  grave?  All  the  undertakers  in  the  world 
couldn't  build  a  cof^n  big  enough  to  bury  eternal  life.  That 
life  cannot  go  into  the  grave.  That  life  cannot  sleep  until  the 
resurrection.  It  is  life  without  end  —  eternal  life,  and  that 
cannot  die. 

Now,  it  is  clear  that  Christ  is  in  Heaven.  1  believe  that  is 
what  is  going  to  make  Heaven  so  attractive.  It  is  not  the 
pearly  gates,  nor  the  jasper  walls,  nor  the  river  bursting  from 
the  throne  of  God,  nor  the  streets  of  gold,  nor  the  tree  that 
l)ears  twelve  manner  of  fruits,  witli  its  leaves  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations,  nor  the  angels  and  the  archangels,  ^y hat  makes.. 
Heaven  so  attractive  is  that  we  are  going  to  see  the  Father 
who  gave  the  Son  for  us,  and  the  Son,  face  to  face. 

What  makes  home  attractive?  Is  it  beautiful  statuary,  or 
costly  paintings  on  the  wall'  Is  it  handsome  furniture,  or 
beautiful  grounds?  I  tell  you  many  such  homes  are  nothing 
but  gilded  sepulchers.  No  joy  there,  no  light  there.  I  re- 
member going  home  some  years  ago.  For  fifty  years  I  had 
frequenth'  gone  to  ni\-  home,  and  T  always  found  mother  tlu-re. 
Once  I  thought  I  would  surprise  her,  and  so  I  didn't  let  her 
know  I  was  coming;  but  when  I  arrived,  she  had  gone  away, 
and  home  was  as  desolate  as  it  could  be.     I  thought  it  was 


2  c  -  J 


THK    CHARM    OF    H(JME.  a^q 

liome  that  was  attracting  me,  but  it  was  my  mother.  After 
she  had  passed  away,  I  went  off  on  a  preaching  tour,  and  on 
ni\'  return  I  went  home  again,  and  lier  room,  her  chair,  were 
\acant.  The  plants  had  been  tenderly  cared  for,  and  the  fire 
in  the  room  was  burning  brightly,  and  everything  was  just  as 
it  had  been  when  she  was  with  us.  I  said  to  my  brothers,  "  It 
was  my  custom  to  pray  with  mother,  and  talk  with  her  Sunday 
afternoons,  and  if  you  will  agree,  we  will  keep  it  up." 

What  makes  home  so  attractive?  It  is_tlie_  loved  ones 
there.  How  eagerly  we  look  forward  to  Thanksgiving  and 
Christmas,  when  families  come  together  again.  I  believe  that 
is  what  Heaven  is  going  to  be,  a  great  Christmas  where  fami- 
lies  will  be  reunited.^  I  have  been  told  of  a  little  girl  whose 
mother  was  very  ill,  and  one  of  the  neighbors  took  the  child 
away  to  stay  until  the  mother  was  better.  She  grew  worse, 
and  died,  and  they  thought  it  was  better  that  the  child  should 
remember  her  mother  as  she  was  when  living.  After  the 
funeral  was  over,  and  everything  suggestive  of  death  had  been 
removed,  they  made  the  home  as  bright  and  cheery  as  possible, 
and  brought  the  little  one  back.  She  had  cried  herself  to  sleep 
every  night,  and  was  full  of  joy  to  be  at  home,  and  she  ran 
with  childish  delight  from  room  to  room,  calling  : 

"  Mamma!  Mamma!  " 

When  she  had  gone  all  over  the  house,  and  could  not  find 
her  mother  anywhere,  she  sat  down  and  cried  as  if  her  heart 
would  break. 

"  Take  me  away,"  she  said.  "  I  don't  want  to  stay  here. 
Mamma  isn't  here." 

It  was  not  the  home  that  the  little  one  was  longing  to  get 
back  to;  it  was  the  moth.er.      ^ 

Take  Christ  out  of  Heaven  and  what  would  it  be?  What 
makes  Heaven  so  attractive  is  that  Christ  is  there. 

In  China,  it  is  said,  when  a  man  comes  into  court  they  have 
two  great  books,  one  a  black  one,  called  the  "  Rook  of  Death," 
and  another,  a  white  one,  called  the  "  Book  of  Life."  If  a  man 
is  found  innocent,  they  put  his  name  down  in  the  Book  of  Life. 


.-Q  THE    BO(^K    OF    LIFE. 

If  he  is  found  guilt}-,  his  uaiuc  is  ])ut  down  in  the  liook  of 
Death. 

Every  name  is  this  hour  either  in  the  Book  of  Life  or  in 
the  Book  of  Death.     Where  is  your  name?  _ 

A  man  said  to  me  some  years  ago,  "  What's  the  use  of  talk- 
ing such  foolishness  as  that,  as  if  our  names  are  kept  in  a  book 
in  Heaven?"  I  looked  through  the  lUblc.  arnl  was  surj)rised 
to  find  how  frequently  l)Ooks  are  spoken  of  in  Scripture;  in 
Daniel,  in  Revelation,  etc.  We  find  Paul  writing  and  sending 
greetings  to  certain  ones,  whose  "  nariijC3  are  in  the^Book  of 
Life." 


Once  when  in  England  I  was  invited  to  sit  with  a  judge  on 
the  bench  while  he  was  trying  some  cases.  A  prisoner  was 
brought  in,  and  the  clerk  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  been 
arrested  before.  He  said,  "  No,  sir."  An  officer  opened  a 
book  and  said,  "  Yes,  sir,  this  man  was  arrested  at  such  and, 
such  a  time."  It  was  the  fourth  or  fifth  timej^  and  when  the 
man  saw  the  record  he  turned_[)^ale.  Every  man  nnist  meet  his 
record.  I  believe  God  makes  every  man  write  his  owm  record, 
and  by  and  by  he  must  meet  it. 

A  lady  friend  of  mine  was  retm-ning  to  this  country  a  few 
rears  ago,  and  she  left  London  for  Liverpool  with  (juite  a  large 
company  of  Americans  to  take  the  same  steamer.  They  went 
to  the  Northwestern  Hotel,  at  that  time  the  largest  hotel  in 
Liverjiool,  and  found  that  all  the  rooms  had  been  engaged; 
and  all  but  this  lady  were  compelled  to  search  for  other  lodg- 
ings. She  said  that  she  had  secured  rooms.  "  Why,"  the  rest 
exclaimed,  "  they  have  all  been  taken  for  several  days." 
"  Yes,"  she  said,  "  but  I  sent  my  name  ahead  and  engaged 
rooms."  That  is  just  what  Christians  are  doing  —  sending 
their  names  in  ahead.  Dgj-ou  want  a  room  in  Heaven?  Set 
your  heart  and  your  affections  on  things  above,  and  not  on 
thiiigs  on  earth. 

T  would  rather  a  thousand  times  have  my  name  written  in 
the  Lamb's  Book  than  have  all  the  wealth  of  the  world  rolling 
at  my  feet.     A  man  may  achieve  fame  in  this  world,  but  it  will 


THE    DYING    MOTHER'S    CHARGE.  451 

fade  away ;  he  may  aceunmlate  wealth,  but  it  will  i)rove  a 
bubble.  He  may  belong  to  a  good  many  churches;  he  may 
be  an  elder,  or  a  deacon,  and  be  a  bright  light  in  his  church, 
and  yet  he  may  not  have  his  name  written  in  the  Book  of  Life. 
Judas  was  one  of  the  twelve,  and  yet  his  name  was  not  written 
in  the  Book  of  Life. 

A  man  in  a  temperance  meeting  was  urged  to  sign  the 
pledge  for  his  mother's  sake.  He  said,  "  She  is  dead."  "Ah, 
but  she  may  see  you  from  Heaven."  If  your  boy  is  in  Heaven, 
try  and  get  some  other  mother's  boy  in.  If  your  Ijoy  is 
wandering  from  God,  and  is  so  far  away  that  you  can't  reach 
him,  try  to  get  some  other  mother's  boy  into  the  kingdom, 
and  while  you  are  helping  him  some  one  may  be  helping  your 
son. 

I  entreat  you,  parents,  to  be  sure  and  have  your  children's^ 
names  in  the  Book  of  Life.  That  should  be  your  aim,  rather 
t han  to  buy  and  sell,  and  leave  millions  of  money  to  make  t h e_ 
way  to  perdition  easy  for  them.  LoQ|<__into  the  results  where. 
men  have  w^orked  for  years  to  leave  property  to  their  children^ 
It  has  often  been  a  means  of  swift  destruction  to  them. 

A  mother  lay  dying  in  one  of  our  Southern  cities.  When 
she  found  her  end  was  near,  she  requested  the  father  to  bring 
the  children  in  separately,  that  she  might  give  them  her  dying 
blessing.  The  oldest  of  the  seven  was  brought  in  first,  and 
the  mother  talked  to  him,  and  gave  him  her  blessing,  and  a 
motto  to  carry  through  life.  Then  she  took  the  next,  and  the 
next,  and  she  kept  on  till  the  last,  a  little  infant,  was  brought 
in.  She  kissed  it  over  and  over  again,  and  gave  a  message  to 
the  father  to  keep  until  the  little  one  was  old  enough  to  under- 
stand it,  and  then  it  was  to  be  given  to  the  child.  It  was  very 
hard  for  the  mother  to  part  with  the  baby.  She  seemed  to 
wish  to  hold  it  to  the  last.  They  took  the  child  from  her,  and 
she  looked  up  into  her  husband's  face  and  said,  "  I  charge  you. 
bring  all  these  children  home  with  you." 

And  so  God  charges  us.  The  promise  is  to  ourselves  and 
to  our  children.     We  can  have  our  names  written  in  the  Book 


452 


ANSWERING    THE    CALL. 


4 


of  Life  if  \vc  w  ill,  and  then  1)\-  ihc  grace  of  God  we  can  call  our 
children  to  us  and  know  that  their  names  are  also  recorded 
there.  That  great  roll  is  being  called,  and  those  whose  names 
are  recorded  are  summoned  every  day,  every  hour.  It  is  being 
called  to-day.  If  your  name  were  called,  could  you  answer 
with  joy?  You  have  heard  of  the  soldier  who  fell  in  battle  in 
our  Civil  War.  While  he  lay  dying,  he  was  heard  to  cry: 
^Here!  Here!" 

Some  of  his  comrades  ran   to  him,   thinking  he   wanted 
water,  but  he  raised  his  trembling  hand  and  said: 
/^'Hush!     They  are  calling  the  roll  of  Heaven,  and  I  am 
answering  to  my  name." 

Then  in  a  faint  voice  he  whisi)crcd: 

"  Here!  "  and  passed  awaw 

If  your  name  should  be  called  to-da}-,  are  von  ready  to 
answer  "  Here!  " 

It  doesn't  take  long  to  tell  where  a  man's  treasure  is.  Take 
a  man  whose  heart  is  set  upon  money,  and  tell  him  how  to 
make  a  few  th<.nisand  dollars,  and  how  his  face  will  light  up. 
Take  those  who  make  pleasure  their  god,  and  tell  them  where 
they  can  have  a  night  of  pleasure,  and  see  how  their  eyes  will 
brighten.  That  is  where  their  heart  is.  If  my  treasures  are 
laid  up  on  high,  I  do  not  need  a  minister  to  come  along  every 
week  and  prci)arc  me  to  live  in  Heaven,  because  I  am  already 
living  there;  where  the  treasure  is  the  heart  will  be  also.  Some 
one  asked  an  old  Scotchman  if  he  w^as  on  the  wav  to  Heaven, 
and  he  said:     "  Why,  man,  I  live  there;  I  am  not  on  the  way." 

If  you  lay  up  your  treasures  this  side  of  Heaven, —  I  don't 
care  what  the  treasures  are.  or  where  they  are  laid  up,  you  are 
doomed  t(j  disa]i])()intnK-nt.  When  you  leave  this  world,  you 
cannot  take  a  penny  with  you.  They  tell  a  story  of  Stewart 
and  Astor,  the  New  York  millionaires,  meeting  in  the  other 
world.  Astor  met  Stewart  at  the  bank  of  the  river  and  wanted 
to  borrow  money  enough  to  get  over,  and  Stewart  said  he 
hadn't  got  a  cent.  Roth  left  millions  behind  them,  but  after 
they  died  they  had  nothing  they  could  use  in  the  other  world. 


A  BEGGAR  THROUGHOUT  ETERNITY.        453 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  being  rich  down  here  and  being  poor  { 

through  all  eternity;  rich  in  this  world  and  an  eternal  beggar  t 
in  the  world  to  come.     The  richest  man  is  the  man  who  lays 
up  his  treasures  where  they  will  last. 

During  the  Civil  War  a  friend  of  mine  visited  one  of  those 
great  Western  farms,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  a  donation  of 
grain  for  wounded  soldiers.  The  owner  took  him  up  into  the 
cupola  of  his  house,  and  said:  ' — ^^/uj 

"  Do  }'ou  sec  those  herds  of  horses  and  cattle?  There's 
thirty  miles  of  fencing  around  that  pasture.  See  what  a  great 
farm  it  is.  There's  enough  raised  on  it  to  feed  thousands  and 
thousands  of  men,  and  there's  not  a  mortgage  on  it.  This  is 
all  mine." 

After  he  had  pointed  out  his  earthly  treasures,  he  was  asked 
how  old  he  was,  and,  on  being  told,  my  friend  said: 

"  Then  you  are  living  on  borrowed  time.  My  friend,  what 
have  you  got  up  yonder?  " 

"  What  do  you  mean?  " 

"What  have  you  got  beyond  this  life?  Have  you  any 
treasures  laid  up  in  Heaven?" 

"  No,  I  can't  say  that  I  have." 

"  Well,  is  it  possible  that  a  man  of  your  shrewdness,  enter- 
prise, and  judgment  should  make  such  a  wreck  of  life?     Are  ^ 

}       7 

you  going  to  be  rich  here  for  a  few  short  years,  and  be  a  beggar    /— '      • 
in  eternity?  " 

"  It  does  look  rather  strange  if  you  look  at  it  in  that  way, 
doesn't  it  ?  " 

He  died  as  he  had  lived,  and  his  children  quarreled  over  his 
possessions,  and  the  lawyers  got  the  most  of  them. 

Once,  wdien  in  a  Sunday-school  in  California,  I  asked  if 
there  was  anyone  present  who  could  write  a  plain  hand. 
"  Yes,"  was  the  answer.  So  we  put  up  a  blackboard,  and  the 
lesson  proved  to  be  from  the  text,  "  Lay  up  for  yourselves  treas- 
ures in  Heaven."  I  said.  "  Suppose  we  write  upon  that 
board  some  of  the  earthly  treasures.  We  will  begin  with 
'  gold.'  "     The  teacher  readih'  wrote  down  gold,  and  thev  all 


454 


HEAVENLY    TREASURES. 


comprehended  it.  "  Well,  we  will  put  down  '  houses  "  next, 
and  then  '  land.'  Next  we  will  put  down  '  fast  horses.'  " 
They  all  understood  what  fast  horses  were  —  they  knew  a  good 
deal  more  about  fast  horses  than  they  knew  al:)out  the  King- 
dom of  God.  "  Next  we  will  put  down  '  tobacco."  "  The 
teacher  seemed  to  shrink  at  this.  "  Write  it  dowai,"  said  I, 
"  many  a  man  tl^inks  more  of  tobacco  than  he  does  of  God. 
Xext  we  will  write  down  '  rum.'  "  He  objected  to  this  — 
didn't  like  to  write  it  down  at  all.  I  said,  "  Down  with  it." 
Many  a  man  will  sell  his  reputation,  his  home,  his  wife,  chil- 
dren, his  present  and  eternal  welfare  for  it.       _ 

"  Now,"  said  I,  "  suppose  we  write  down  some  of  the  heav-_ 
enly  treasrires.^  Put  down  '  Jesus  'to  head  the  list,  then 
'  Heaven.'  then  '  river  of  life.'  then  '  crown  of  glor\-.'  "  So  we 
went  on  till  the  column  was  filled,  and  we  drew  a  line  and 
showed  the  heavenly  and  the  earthly  things  in  contrast.  They 
could  not  stand  comparison.  We  could  not  but  see  the 
superiority  of  the  heavenly  over  the  earthly  treasures.  Well, 
it  turned  (jut  that  the  teacher  was  not  a  Christian.  He  had 
gone  to  California  on  the  usual  hunt  —  gold;  and  when  he  saw 
the  two  columns  placed  side  by  side,  the  excellence  of  the  one 
over  the  other  w-as  irresistible,  and  his  soul  was  won  for  God. 

It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  where  your  heart  is. _ 
An  old  minister  in  Kentucky  had  a  son  in  Chicago  in  thereaJ 
^.state  business,  and  with  hirnit  was  "  real  estate,"  "  real 
estate,"  morning,  noon,  and  night.  The  old  father  came  to 
visit  him,  and  he  found  his  boy's  mind  full  of  real  estate.  He 
had  lost  all  his  Christianity.  He  could  talk  of  nothing  but 
corner  lots,  corner  lots,  corner  lots.  He  seemed  to  live  on 
corner  lots.  The  old  gentleman  was  very  nnich  grieved. 
One  day  he  went  down  to  the  office  and  his  son  said,  "  Father, 
I  am  going  out  for  a  few  minutes,  and  if  any  one  comes  in.  you 
can  tell  them  there  is  a  very  good  lot  here  that  is  worth  so 
much;  and  here  is  anotlicr  nice  loi  that  is  worth  so  much;  and 
here  is  a  good  one  that  is  worth  so  much  ;  "  and  so  on.  The 
old  gentleman  didn't  have  much  heart  for  the  business ;  his 


THIS    EARTH    NOT    OUR    HOME. 


455 


thoughts  were  somewhere  else.  By  and  by  a  gentleman 
came  in  to  inquire  about  a  lot,  and  the  old  minister 
said,  "  My  son  says  this  lot  is  worth  so  much.  And  here's 
another  one  worth  so  much.  I  don't  know  anything  about 
them,  but  I  tell  you,  my  friend,  I  would  give  more  for  standing 
room  in  the  new   Jerusalem  than  for  all  the  corner  lots  in 


Chicago/' 

The  old  gentleman  had  set  his  heart  on  the  new  Jerusalem, 
and  Chicago  hadn't  a  grip  on  him.     And  the  son  came  in  and 
found  that  his  father  had  gone  to  preaching.     You  can  telL 
where  the  heart  is  by  what  it  is  set  upon.     It  is  a  good  thing 
to  be  sure  of  standing  room  in  the  new  Jerusalem. 

Now,  people  say,  How  are  you  going  to  set  your  affections 
on  things  above  ?  How  control  your  thoughts  ;  how  get  them 
into  a  heavenly  channel?  If  you  were  interested  in  France 
you  would  get  books  and  read  up  on  French  history,  literature, 
art,  and  politics,  and  you  could  get  so  full  of  France  that  you 
couldn't  talk  about  anything  else. 

Our  soldiers  in  the  Civil  War  thought  tents  were  good 
enough  for  them;  they  wanted  to  do  their  fighting  and  get 
home  again.  Home  was  away  back  in  the  North.  So  we 
are  down  here  fighting  the  battles  of  the  Lord.  We  are  not 
going  to  stay  here.  We  are  only  pilgrims  and  strangers. 
Our  home  is  up  yonder.  The  crowning  time  is  coming.  I 
like  to  look  ahead  to  the  time  when  I  shall  hear  the  words, 
"  Good  and  faithful  servant,  enter  thou  into  the  jov  of  thy 
Lord."  Our  friends  are  there.  Those  who  served  Christ  on 
earth,  those  who  have  been  true  to  God,  have  been  gathering 
there  for  six  thousand  years.  Abel  was  the  first  to  enter  that 
world.  He  was  the  first  to  sing  the  Song  of  Redemption. 
What  a  choir  has  been  gathered  there  since !  Once  on  my 
return  from  England,  I  received  a  letter  from  a  young  man 
there,  w'ho  was  greatly  attached  to  his  mother.  In  England 
they  have  a  custom,  when  a  friend  dies,  of  sending  out  mourn- 
ing cards  with  wide  l:)lack  borders,  announcing  the  death. 
When  the  card  came  announcing  the  death  of  liis  mother,  in- 


456 


"forevp:r  with  thp:  lord." 


stead  of  a  black  border,  it   had  a  gold  border,  because  the 

mother  had  gone  to  a  cit}-  of  gold.     Some  one  sent  him  these 

lines: 

"  I  shine  in  the  Hght  of  God; 

His  likeness  stamps  my  brow; 
Through  the  valley  of  death  my  feet  have  trod, 
And  I  reign  in  glory  now! 

"  No  breaking  heart  is  here, 

No  keen  and  thrilling  pain, 
No  wasted  cheek  where  the  frequent  tear 
Hath  rolled  and  left  its  stain. 

"  O  friends  of  mortal  years. 

The  trusted  and  the  true, 
Ye  are  watching  still  in  the  valley  of  tears, 
But  I  wait  to  welcome  you. 

"  Do  I  forget?     O,  no! 

For  memory's  golden  chain 
Shall  bind  my  heart  to  the  hearts  below 
Till  they  meet  to  touch  again. 

"  Each   link  is   strong  and   bright. 
And  love's  electric  flame 
Flows  freely  down,  like  a  river  of  light, 
To  the  world  from  whence  I  came. 

"  Do  you  mourn  when  another  star 

Shines  out  from  the  glittering  sky? 
Do  you  weep  when  tlie  raging  voice  of  war 
And  the  storms  of  conflict  die? 

"Then  why  should  your  tears  run  down. 
And  your  hearts  be  sorely  riven. 
For  another  gem  in  the  Saviour's  crown. 
And  another  .soul  in  heaven?" 

Those  lines  came  to  him  a.s  il  tlicv  had  been  sent  from 
Hr-aven  by  his  sainted  mother;  and  he  said.  "  If  she  has  gone 
into  that  life  of  love  and  glory,  I  think  T  ought  to  leave  ofif  the 
black  border  and  put  on  one  of  gold." 

I  cannot  tell  you  with  what  joy  I  read  that  ])oem  when  my 
own  mother  passed  away.  I  (U)n't  think  of  my  mother  as  dead. 
She  is  "  forever  with  the  Lord." 

Very  often  people  come  to  me  and  say:     "  Mr.  Moody,  do 


WE    SHALL    KNOW    EACH  OTHER    THERE.  457 

you  think  we  shall  know  each  other  in  Heaven?"  Often  the 
question  comes  from  a  mother  who  has  lost  a  dear  child,  and 
who  wishes  to  see  it  again.  Sometimes  it  comes  from  a  child 
who  has  lost  a  mother,  or  a  father,  and  who  wants  to  recognize 
them  in  Heaven.  A  great  many  people  are  anxious  to  know 
where  their  loved  ones  are,  and  whether  they  shall  know  them 
when  they  see  them  again.  There  is  just  one  verse  in  Scrip- 
ture in  answer  to  this  question,  and  that  is:  "I  shall  be  satis- 
fied.'1  It  is  all  I  want  to  know.  If  I  do  not  know  my  rnother 
in  Heavem  do  you  think  I  shall  be  "  satisfiedj_'  ?  My  brother 
who  went  up  there  I  shall  see.  because  I  shall  be  satisfied.  We  _ 
shall  see  all  those  we  loved  on  earth  up  there,  and  if  we  loved 
them  here  we  shall  love  them  ten  thousand  times  more  wheiT__ 
we  meet  them  there.  Who  gave  me  love  for  my  mother? 
Who  put  that  love  into  my  heart?  Then  will  He  not  satisfv 
that  love?  I  shall  know  her,  and  better  than  T  did  here-,  You 
will  know  that  child  of  yours  when  you  get  there. 

If  we  are  not  going  to  know  our  loved  ones  in  the  here- 
after I  think  that  is  where  love  must  end.  But  I  tliink  love  is 
going  to  increase,  and  we  are  going  to  know  them  far  better 
than  we  ever  knew  them  in  this  world.  I  shaj]  see  Abrahani^ 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  in  the  Kingdom  nf  Gnd  _Thev  do  not  lose 
their  identity.  Moses  had  been  gone  from  this  world  fifteen 
hundred  years  when  he  came  back  to  the  Mount  of  Transfig-_ 

uration^    Doesn't  it  look  as  if  Peter  and  James  and  John  kne\v 

him?     Elijah  had  been  gone  nine  hundred  years,  and   thej^;^ 

knew  him.  _I  believe  that  when  I  get  to  Heaven  I  shall  know 
Moses  without  any  introduction.  I  haven't  any  doubt  but  that 
I  shall  know  all  these  men  whose  acquaintance  I  have  made  in 
the  Bible.  We  are  clearly  taught  that  God  the  Father  is  there, 
and  that  He  is  a  person,  that  He  has  a  location,  that  He  lives 
in  Heaven,  and  that  we  shall  see  Him  and  be  with  Him,  be- 
cause we  find  all  through  the  Scriptures  that  Christ  is  with  the 
Father,  and  They  are  one,  and  Flis  prayer  was  that  His  dis- 
cij2ks_ might  be  with  Him.  Surely  wc  shall  know  each  other 
there. 

28 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

THE    OVERCOMING    LIFE. 

An  Incident  in  London  —  Mr.  Moody's  Experiences  wlien  He  was 
Converted  —  "  Trouble  with  D.  L.  Aloody  "  —  At  the  Outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  —  Going  to  War  with  a  Whoop  —  Self  Control  — 
"Mother,  Where's  j\Iy  Collar?"  —  Taking  a  Dose  of  Unpleasant 
^ledicine  —  Ofifering  His  Wife  a  Bouquet  Instead  of  an  Apology  — 
A  Story  of  Anger  and  Contrition  —  A  Manly  Apology  —  Story 
of  Three  Millionaires  —  Waking  Up  and  Finding  Himself  a  Rich 
Man  —  Mean  and  Contemptible  People  —  The  Jealous  Eagle  and 
Its  Fate  — The  Boy  and  the  Echo  —  A  Wise  Mother  — The  Rival 
Merchants,  and  How  They  Were  Reconciled  —  ]\Ir.  i\Ioody's 
Experience  at  a  Dinner  Party  —  A  Sad  Sight  —  A  Father  Playing 
Cards  for  Money  —  Washing  out  Religion  with  a  Bucket  of  Cold 
Water  —  Men  Whose  Religion  is  Only  Skin   Deep. 

WHEX  I  was  converted  I  thought  that  the  battle  was 
fought  and  the  victory  was  won.  I  soon  found  out 
that  I  was  mistaken,  and  that  the  battle  had  onlv 
just  l)egun.  In  the  P.ible  the  life  of  the  Christian  is  called  a  war- 
fare, a  conllict.  He  is  like  a  new  recruit  in  tlie  army ;  he  has 
to  go  on  long  marclies,  is  subject  to  strict  military  discipline, 
and  must  learn  a  good  many  things  l^efore  he  liecomes  a  real, 
true,  faithful  soldier.  If  you  have  never  taken  the  pains  to 
study  what  is  called  "  the  two  natures,"  you  will  fmd  it  a  very 
liealthful  exercise  of  the  soul.  I  was  a  great  myster\-  to  my- 
self when  I  was  converted  :  I  thought  the  old  nature  wotild  be 
made  over  into  a  new  one  ;  but  I  found  I  had  two  natures  :  one 
the  higher  nature,  and  the  other  the  lower:  one  carnal,  the 
other  spiritual.  Thtn  the  conllict  began.  I  had  no  conflicts 
within  myself  until  1  was  born  of  Heaven;  in  fact,  I  thought  I 
was  about  as  fine  a  character  as  the  world  ever  produced. 
\\'hen  the  new  life  dawnecl  upon  me,  the  new  creation,  then  I 

(45S) 


OUR    CRKATEST    ENEMY. 


459 


fouiul  that  the  spirit  lusted  against  the  ilesh,  and  the  tlesh 
against  the  spirit,  and  I  had  more  trouble  with  D.  L.  Moody 
of  the  old  creation  than  any  man  who  ever  crossed  my  path. 
There  may  be  meaner  men  in  the  world,  but  I  never  had  as 
much  troul)le  with  any  of  them  as  1  did  with  myself. 

There  was,  some  years  ago,  a  very  promising  man  in  Lon- 
don, who  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  earnest  laymen  of  the 
time.  He  was  a  great  star  in  fashionable  society,  but  he 
came  out  for  Christ.  Some  time  after  he  had  been  converted 
a  devoted  Christian  lady  said  to  him,  "  What  have  you  found 
to  be  your  greatest  enemy  since  you  became  a  Christian  ?  " 
He  said,  "  Well,  I  think  the  greatest  enemy  that  I  have  found 
is  myself."  "  Ah,"  said  the  deeply-taught  woman,  "  The  King 
has  taken  you  into  His  presence,  for  it  is  only  in  the  presence 
of  the  King  that  we  are  taught  that  lesson." 

If  a  man  has  obtained  self-control,  has  achieved  victory 
over  the  old  nature,  the  carnal  nature,  he  has  had  a  hard  fight. 
I  can't  tell  how  great  a  spiritual  uplift  I  received  when  that 
truth  dawned  upon  me.  God  didn't  take  away  my  old  nature. 
I  found  I  was  tempted  just  as  much  after  I  was  converted  as  I 
was  before.  There  came  such  a  gush  of  life  into  my  soul  that 
for  months  the  old  nature  was  overcome,  but  one  day  there 
came  a  flash  of  temper.  I  thought  my  temper  had  gone.  If 
you  think  that  your  temper  is  gone,  if  you  think  the  old  man 
is  dead  as  soon  as  you  are  converted,  you  are  greatly  mistaken. 

It  is  by  faith  that  we  are  going  to  overconie.  When  the 
Civil  War  broke  out  there  were  men  who  really  believed  it 
would  be  over  in  a  few  months.  William  H.  Seward,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  declared  that  the  war  wouldn't  last  over 
ninety  days ;  and  young  men  enlisted  and  went  to  war  with  a 
whoop;  they  were  going  down  to  thrash  the  South,  and  were 
going  to  make  quick  work  of  it.  They  were  four  years  about 
it,  and  on  both  sides  about  500,000  men  went  to  their  graves. 
What  was  the  trouble?  They  underestimated  the  strength  of 
the  enemy,  and  overestimated  their  own  strength.  It  wasn't 
quite  so  easy  to  overcome  as  they  thought. 


460 


ROWING    AGAINST    THE    CURRENT. 


The  reason  why  so  many  men  and  women  fail  in  their 
Christian  Hfe  is  because  they  don't  stop  to  count  the  cost ;  they 
don't  reahze  that  the  Christian  hfe  is  a  conflict,  and  that  no 
man  can  win  the  victory  without  supernatural  power.  I 
thought  when  I  w-as  converted  that  I  could  lay  my  oars  in  the 
bottom  of  the  boat,  fold  my  hands,  and  sweep  right  into  the 
arms  of  God's  love  ;  but  it  was  not  long  before  I  found  I  had 
got  to  row  against  the  current,  not  with  it.  That  is  what 
makes  character.  If  w'e  get  into  the  boat  and  just  float  along 
toward  that  eternal  shore,  and  there  is  no  struggle,  it  will  not 
develop  character.  We  have  got  to  go  against  the  current. 
There  is  no  escaping  that.  The  men  and  women  that  over- 
come are  the  ones  that  make  character.  Some  have  more  to 
overcome  than  others.  Some  people  are  pretty  bad,  and  are 
obliged  to  struggle  hard  ;  some  are  pretty  good  ;  and  there  are 
some  men  and  women  who  seem  to  have  been  born  with  beauti- 
ful traits ;  but  I  have  a  good  deal  more  respect  for  one  who 
overcomes  a  jealous,  mean,  selfish  dis])osition  than  I  have  for 
those  who  have  not  had  that  struggle.  Joseph  was  a  beauti- 
ful character;  he  didn't  have  so  nuich  to  overcome  as  Jacob. 
Lot  had  a  very  weak  character  that  had  to  be  bolstered  up  by 
his  Uncle  Abraham,  the  great,  sturdy  oak.  You  will  find  about 
a  million  Jacobs  where  you  find  one  Joseph  !  Josephs  are 
scarce !  It  is  folly  for  any  man  to  attempt  to  overcome  the 
world  around  him  unless  he  has  overcome  the  world  within 
him  first.  If  wives  want  to  control  their  husl)ands  they  must 
get  control  of  themselves  first.  A  wife  that  has  self-control 
will  manage  the  whole  house  ;  but  if  she  hasn't  self-control,  she 
can't  control  anybody.  A  mother  who  cannot  control  her- 
self cannot  control  her  child.  What  we  want  is  to  get  control 
of  the  enemies  within.  I  believe  that  the  greatest  victory  a 
man  or  woman  can  achieve  on  earth  is  to  conquer  self.  He 
that  ruleth  his  own  spirit  is  mightier  than  he  that  taketh  a  city. 
Alexander  had  the  whole  world  at  his  feet,  but  he  found  that 
he  couldn't  control  Alexander.  Napoleon  would  have  had 
control  of  the  world,  but  he  couldn't  control  Napoleon. 


PATIKNCt:    AND    SELF-CONTROL.  461 

The  lust  of  the  flesh  is  appetite.  I  must  either  control  my 
appetite  or  it  will  control  me.  Suppose  a  man  has  an  appetite 
for  opium,  or  for  strong  drink,  or  for  anythmg  that  is  mjurious, 
and  it  lias  gained  the  mastery  over  his  will,  I  can  assert  that  no 
slave  ever  had  a  harder  master  than  that  man.  The  question 
is,  have  you  got  control  of  the  appetite,  or  has  it  got  control 
of  you  ? 

Paul  admonishes  us  to  be  sound  in  faith,  in  charity,  in  pa- 
tience, in  love.  You  wouldn't  have  a  preacher  that  was  un- 
sound in  the  faith.  But  if  he  was  unsound  in  temper,  or  un- 
sound in  love,  you  might  still  call  him  a  splendid  man.  There 
is  the  same  authority  to  be  sound  in  patience  as  there  is  to  be 
sound  in  faith ;  and  if  you  begin  to  use  discipline  on  church 
members  who  are  not  sound  in  patience,  what  would  become  of 
the  church?  You  wouldn't  have  many  members,  and  many 
ministers  would  be  without  pulpits.  I  don't  want  you  to  think 
I  don't  sympathize  with  you ;  I  do  sympathize.  I  know  how  it 
is  with  that  mother  who  has  a  large  family  of  children  ;  I  know 
how  she  is  pulled  this  way  and  that.  James  comes  in  and  says, 
"  Mother,  where's  my  collar?  "  John  comes  along  and  asks, 
"  Mother,  what  have  you  done  with  my  shoes  ?  "  and  Mary 
comes  along  and  says,  "  Mother,  where's  my  hat?  "  Mother 
is  pulled  this  way  and  that,  and  she  gets  out  of  patience  and 
frets,  and  the  children  fret,  and  the  husband  isn't  much  better. 
Sunday  morning  he  says,  "  Mary,  why  are  you  not  ready  for 
church  ?  "  lie  hasn't  done  a  thing  to  get  the  children  ready 
for  church  ;  the  mother  must  get  all  of  them  ready  on  time,  and 
get  herself  ready,  and  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  put  his  hat  on  and  go. 

The  minister  who  hasn't  patience  and  can't  control  his 
temper  had  better  get  out  of  the  pulpit.  I  know  lots  of  minis- 
ters who  are  not  w'orth  a  snap  of  my  finger ;  they  can't  control 
their  tempers ;  they  go  into  the  pulpit  and  scold  and  find  fault 
with  their  people,  and  lose  their  power  and  lose  their  influence. 
We  must  control  ourselves  if  we  ever  expect  to  control  our 
families,  our  enemies,  or  any  one  else. 

A  person  without  temper  is  like  a  piece  of  soft  steel,  not 


462 


HOW    TO    OVERCOME. 


good  for  anything.  When  steel  has  lost  its  temper  you  throw- 
it  a\va\ .  Peoi)Ie  that  have  r.o  temper  have  no  force  of  char- 
acter. Peter  had  temper,  Paul  had  temper,  and  Elijah  had 
temper;  and  what  we  want  is  to  bring  our  bodies  under  and 
get  control  of  our  temper.  People  call  it  a  weakness  or  a  mis- 
fortune, or,  worst  of  all,  excuse  it  as  being  inherited.  That 
is  the  meanest  of  all !  You  talk  about  inheriting  these  things 
from  your  father  and  mother;  if  you  have  got  all  they  liad  and 
haven't  lost  anything,  that  is  no  excuse  for  you. 

You  ask,  "  How  am  I  going  to  overcome  bad  temper?  " 
When  you  find  yourself  saying  or  doing  a  mean  thing,  say  to 
the  one  you  have  wronged  that  you  are  sorry.  And  when  you 
have  done  that  twenty-five  times  you  will  stop  doing  mean 
things.  It  takes  a  good  deal  of  courage  to  say,  "  I  am  wrong." 
That  is  "  keeping  the  body  under."  y\s  Paul  said,  "  I  keep 
under  my  body,  and  bring  it  into  subjection."  'ilie  tempted 
person  may  speak  of  his  temper  as  a  misfortune  or  a  weakness. 
He  is  mistaken.  It  is  a  sin.  Put  some  one  says,  "  You  know 
nothing  about  it."  I  do.  It  was  once  a  word  and  a  blow  with 
me,  and  the  blow  came  pretty  quick,  before  the  word  cooled  ; 
nothing  would  satisfy  me  better  than  knocking  the  man  down. 
I  w'as  very  much  like  the  Irishman,  who  said  he  was  "  never  at 
peace  unless  he  was  fighting  somebody." 

A  lady  once  came  to  mc  and  said : 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  haven't  got  as  much  patience  as  I  had  five 
years  ago ;  instead  of  growing  in  grace  I  have  been  losing 
ground;  I  wish  you  would  helj)  me." 

"  I  should  like  to  help  you,"  I  said,  "  but  I  am  afraid  you 
won't  like  the  medicine;  it  isn't  very  pleasant  to  take.  The 
next  time  you  lose  your  temper,  or  lose  control  of  your  tongue 
and  say  sharp,  cutting  things,  as  soon  as  you  realize  that  you 
have  done  it,  go  to  the  person  you  have  wronged  and  ask  for- 
giveness." 

"  Oh,  no,"  she  said,  "  I  wouldn't  like  to  do  that." 

"No,"  I  said,  "of  course  you  wouldn't;  and  there  is  the 
trouble,  but  vou  will  never  win  the  victorv  until  vou  do." 


STAMPING    OUT    LIES. 


463 


I  have  known  a  husband  to  give  his  wife  a  good  scolding 
and  go  out  ot  the  house  in  a  mad  fit,  but  before  he  had  gone  far 
his  conscience  would  smite  him.  Then  he  would  say  to  him- 
self, "  I  didn't  treat  my  wife  right  this  morning,  and  when  I 
go  home  I  will  take  her  a  big  bouquet."  Tons  of  bouquets  won't 
cover  that  thing  up !  If  a  man  wants  to  conquer  that  habit  let 
him  go  to  his  wife  and  say,  "  I  feel  mean  and  contemptible  for 
speaking  as  I  did  this  morning,  and  I  want  you  to  forgive  me." 
After  he  has  done  that  half  a  dozen  times  he  will  be  cured. 
You  say,  "  I  should  like  to  see  you  try  it  yourself!  "  I  have 
tried  it,  and  I  know  how  it  works.  I  want  to  tell  you  another 
thing:  Some  people  seem  to  think  that  the  preachers  who 
have  nothing  to  do  but  write  sermons  and  preach  them  ought 
to  be  very  angelic ;  but  they  have  the  same  things  to  overcome 
that  you  have.  Preaching  isn't  going  to  make  me  any  better, 
and  talking  for  half  an  hour  isn't  going  to  give  me  self-controi ; 
I  must  get  it  as  other  people  do ;  it  is  a  conflict,  it  is  a  battle. 

A  lady  came  to  me  some  time  ago  and  said : 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  have  got  so  in  the  habit  of  exaggerating 
that  some  of  my  friends  accuse  me  of  lying.  I  feel  very  badly 
about  it,  and  I  have  tried  hard  to  overcome  it,  but  I  can't." 

"  I  think  you  could,"  I  said,  "  if  you  tried  in  the  right  way. 
I  tlunk  there  is  a  way  if  you  really  want  to  try  it." 

"  Pray,  tell  me  what  it  is?  "  she  said. 

"  The  next  time  you  exaggerate  to  anyone  go  and  tell  them 
you  lied  to  them,  and  ask  them  to  forgive  you." 

"  Oh,"  she  said.  "  I  wouldn't  like  to  call  it  lying." 

"  A  lie  is  a  He,  and  you  have  got  to  stamp  it  out ;  after  you 
have  made  half  a  dozen  confessions  of  lying,  you  won't  lie  any 
niore,"  I  said. 

Confession  is  crucifying  to  the  flesh  ;  people  don't  like  to 
confess,  but  if  you  are  going  to  gain  the  victory  over  sin  you 
have  got  to  do  it. 

A  minister's  sister  married  a  lawyer  who  was  a  very  promi- 
nent man,  but  an  infidel.  She  thought  that  she  was  going  to 
win  her  husband  to  Christ,  and  she  was  constantly  holding  up 


464  HEROISM    IN    CONFESSING. 

her  brother  as  a  most  lovable  and  beautiful  character,  a  man 
with  a  great  deal  of  self-control.  This  irritated  the  husband, 
and  he  said  to  himself,  "  I  will  bring  that  man  down.  I  will 
show  my  wife  that  her  brother  is  not  so  angelic  as  she  thinks 
he  is."  So  one  evening  the  lawyer  accused  the  brother  of 
doing  a  very  disreputable  thing.  The  minister  denied  it,  but 
the  lawyer  insisted  that  the  evidence  against  him  was  well 
supported.     The  brother  flew  into  a  rage  and  said  : 

"  I  won't  stay  in  the  house  if  you  think  that  of  me !  "  He 
got  up  and  went  out.  and  slammed  the  door  after  him.  After 
he  had  gone  the  lawyer  said  to  his  wife : 

"  Your  brother  is  very  angelic,  isn't  he  ?  I  tell  you,  he's  no 
better  than  the  rest  of  us." 

The  next  morning  about  five  o'clock  a  servant  knocked  at 
the  infidel's  door  and  told  him  that  the  minister,  his  brother-in- 
law,  was  down  stairs  and  wanted  to  see  him  right  away.  He 
dressed  himself  and  went  down.     The  minister  said : 

"  I  want  to  apologize  for  speaking  to  you  as  I  did  last  night ; 
I  am  very  sorry  I  lost  my  temper,  and  I  want  you  to  forgive 
me." 

The  infidel  had  to  admit  that  he  had  accused  hnn  unjustly ; 
and  when  he  went  back  he  said  to  his  wdfe : 

"  I  believe  your  brother  is  a  Christian  if  there  ever  was  one. 
I  never  would  have  done  that ;  I  believe  in  Christianity  of  that 
kind."  And  he,  too,  soon  became  a  Christian.  It  takes  a 
hero  to  confess ! 

Then  there  is  covetousness  ;  that  is  another  inward  sin. 
Many  a  man  is  a  slave  to  his  money ;  money  is  his  god ;  it  has 
got  him  by  the  throat,  and  it  holds  him  right  there.  A  good 
many  Christian  men  and  women  go  on  i)iling  up  wealth  year 
after  year  until  it  gets  complete  mastery  over  them.  Mr. 
Durant,  the  man  who  established  Wellesley  College,  told  me 
that  the  greatest  trouble  he  had  was  with  covetousness.  One 
day  he  awoke  to  find  that  he  was  a  rich  man,  and  the  question 
came  up,  whether  he  would  let  money  be  his  master,  or  be 
master  of  his  money?     He  said  the  battle  raged  in  his  luind 


OVERCOMIXO  COVETOUSNKSS.  465 

for  some  time,  and  at  last  he  won  the  victory,  and  out  of  that 
victory  came  Wellesley  College.  There  is  more  said  in  the 
Bible  against  covetousness  than  against  drunkenness.  Men 
bow  and  scrape  to  a  covetous  man,  and  kick  a  drunkard  out 
of  society.  W'q  must  overcome  covetousness  or  it  will  over- 
come us. 

Once  when  I  was  j^reaching  in  I'altimore  John  W.  Garrett 
told  me  about  George  Peabody  and  Jolms  Hopkins.  When 
young  men  both  were  clerks  together  in  Baltimore.  Both 
were  bachelors,  and  they  were  rivals  to  see  which  would  be 
the  richer.  They  went  on  piling  up  millions  and  millions. 
One  day  both  Hopkins  and  Peabody  were  at  Garrett's  table 
together.     And  Hopkins  said  to  Garrett : 

"  Peabody  is  giving  away  lots  of  money." 

"Yes,"  said  Peabody  to  Garrett,  "  I  wish  aou  would  tell 
Hopkins  to  make  his  v.ill.  Pie  has  no  one  but  nieces  and 
nephews,  and  they  do  not  need  his  money.  It  would  be  a  pity 
to  have  him  die  and  not  give  away  his  money." 

"  Nothing  makes  me  so  angry,"  Plopkins  replied,  "  as  to 
have  people  tell  me  what  to  do  with  my  money.  If  anybody 
comes  and  asks  me  for  money  I  never  give  anything.  I  only 
give  as  I  please." 

Garrett  dichi't  propose  to  be  choked  off  that  way.  With- 
out looking  at  either  of  them  he  said  : 

"  Peabody,  which  have  you  enjoyed  the  most,  making 
money  or  giving  it  away  ?  " 

He  looked  up  and  saw  Hopkins  pricking  up  his  ears  and 
listening.     And   Peabody  said  : 

"  Well,  Garrett,  that  is  a  hard  question  to  answer.  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  satisfaction  in  making  money,  and  there's  a 
deal  of  excitement  about  it ;  and  then  the  possession  of  money 
gives  a  man  power.  But  I  looked  ahead  a  few  years  ago,  and 
I  got  to  thinking,  and  I  knew  that  I  could  not  take  it  away  with 
me,  and  that  many  people  with  large  fortunes  have  been  ruined. 
After  thinking  it  over  I  decided  that  it  would  be  a  blessing  to 
better  the  condition  of  the  London  poor.     I  did  not  believe  in 


^(jS  the  joy  of  giving. 

giving  them  money,  but  I  could  make  their  homes  better.  So 
I  got  a  few  men  together  as  trustees  and  I  cut  a  shce  off  the 
loaf,  and  I  never  did  anything  that  hurt  me  so  much  as  when 
that  money  went  out  of  ni)-  hand.  Well,  they  got  the  building 
done.  The  rooms  were  all  filled,  birds  were  singing  in  the 
sunlight,  plants  were  growing  in  the  windows,  and  little  chil- 
dren were  playing  in  a  ward  in  the  center  instead  of  in  the 
streets.  As  I  walked  through  that  building,  a  feeling  came 
over  me  that  I  had  never  experienced  before,  and  from  that 
hour  I  have  enjoyed  giving  far  more  than  making." 

Inside  of  forty-eight  hours  Hopkins  was  making  out  the 
will  that  handed  over  his  millions  to  the  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity, and  to  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital,  covering  thirteen 
acres,  the  largest  on  the  continent.  I  believe  what  the  Bible 
says  is  true:     "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 

Jealousy  is  an  enemy  to  be  overcome.  Have  we  not  con- 
tempt for  a  really  jealous  man,  or  a  jealous  woman?  Haven't 
we  ?  Have  you  ever  had  trouble  with  anything  of  that  kind  ? 
There  is  a  fable  of  an  eagle  that  could  fly  a  little  higher  than 
another  eagle ;  and  the  other  was  so  jealous  that  he  asked  a 
hunter  to  bring  his  rival  down.  The  hunter  said,  "  I  would  if 
I  had  a  feather  to  wing  my  arrow."  So  the  eagle  gave  him  a 
feather,  and  he  took  aim  at  the  other  eagle,  but  didn't  hit  him. 
Then  he  said,  "  I  will  try  again  if  you  will  give  me  another 
feather."  So  he  kept  on  shooting  and  missing  until  every 
feather  w  as  gone,  and  then  he  shot  the  jealous  eagle.  If  you  see 
somebody  a  little  higher  uj)  than  you  are,  and  you  want  to 
bring  him  down,  let  me  tell  you  it  is  a  mean,  contemptible  thing 
to  do.  People  sometimes  thiids:  they  have  overcome  jealousy, 
and  the  first  tiling  the}-  know  u])  it  comes  from  a  different  direc- 
ti(jn.  If  y(ju  find  other  people  doing  things  that  you  condemn, 
it  is  a  good  thing  to  take  a  look  at  yourself  and  see  if  you  are 
not  guilty  of  the  same  thing.  I  have  found  myself  doing  that 
lots  of  times  —  condemning  people  for  doing  certain  things, 
and  then  found  I  was  doing  exactly  the  same  things  myself. 

Some  one  has  compared  this  life  to  an  echo,  because,  they 


TilK    LESSUN    OF    THE    PXilO.  ^^-j 

say,  other  people  treat  us  just  about  the  same  as  we  treat  them. 
A  story  is  told  of  a  little  boy  who  had  never  heard  an  echo. 
One  day  he  was  out  at  play,  and  he  heard  over  in  the  woods  his 
own  voice.     He  shouted  : 

"  Hello  there  !  "  and  the  echo  came  back : 

"  Hello  there  !  " 

"  Who  are  you?  " 

"  Who  are  you?  " 

"  You  are  a  mean  boy !  " 

"  You  are  a  mean  boy !  " 

"  I  am  going  to  whip  you !  " 

"  I  am  going  to  whip  you !  " 

He  ran  and  told  his  mother  that  there  was  a  very  bad  boy  in 
the  woods  that  was  going  to  whip  him.  His  mother  under- 
stood how  it  was,  and  said  : 

"  I  don't  think  he's  a  bad  boy  at  all ;  go  out  and  speak  kindly 
to  him  and  see  if  he  doesn't  speak  kindly  to  you."  So  he  went 
out  again  and  tried  it  once  more : 

"  Hello  there  !  " 

"  Hello  there  !  " 

"  Who  are  you  ?  " 

"  Who  are  you  ?  " 

"  You  are  a  good  boy !  " 

"  You  are  a  good  boy !  " 

"  I  love  you  !  " 

"  I  love  you  !  " 

Then  he  went  back  and  said  to  his  mother  : 

"  After  all,  he  is  a  good  boy ;  I  was  mistaken  about  him." 

Treat  people  kindly,  and  they  will  treat  you  kindly ;  snap  at 
them  and  they  will  snarl  at  you. 

Two  merchants  were  rivals  and  a  great  deal  of  jealousy 
existed  between  them.  One  of  them  became  converted  and  he 
went  to  the  minister  and  said,  "  I  am  still  jealous  of  that  man, 
and  I  don't  know  just  how  to  overcome  it."  "  Well,"  said  the 
minister,  "  if  a  man  comes  into  your  store  to  buy  goods,  and 
you  cannot  supply  him,  just  send  him  over  to  your  neighbor." 


468  A    CURE    FOR    JEALOUSY. 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  "  I  wouldn't  Uke  to  do  that."  "  Well,"  said 
the  minister,  "  you  do  it  and  you  will  kill  jealousy."  He 
promised  he  would,  and  when  a  customer  came  into  his  store 
for  goods  which  he  did  not  have,  he  would  send  him  across  the 
street  to  his  neighbor's.  By  and  by  the  other  merchant  began 
to  send  customers  over  to  this  man's  store,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  they  became  firm  friends.  That  is  the  way  to  overcome 
jealousy. 

Now  we  come  to  outside  enemies.  After  we  get  victory 
inside  we  are  ready  to  engage  enemies  outside.  A  woman 
who  is  strong  at  home  is  strong  all  around.  When  a  man  gets 
self-control  it  seems  as  if  he  coidd  go  out  and  conquer  the 
whole  world ;  but  if  he  is  weak  here  the  world  will  trip  him  up. 
If  he  has  not  won  the  victory  over  himself  he  needn't  talk  about 
gaining  it  over  outside  enemies. 

Custom  is  one  of  the  outside  foes  we  have  to  meet.  It  is 
common  to  hear  people  say  it  is  the  "  custom  "  to  do  so  and  so  ; 
never  mind,  if  the  custom  is  a  detriment  to  us  we  will  go 
against  it. 

Fashion  is  an  enemy.  How  many  people  say  it  is  the 
"  fashion  "  to  do  so  and  so.  Never  mind  ;  I  will  go  dead 
against  fashion  if  it  is  going  to  weaken  my  influence  or  cripple 
my  testimony;  I  will  overcome  it. 

A  friend  of  mine  was  once  placing  cards  with  another 
gentleman,  and  he  thought  he  would  play  for  a  small  amount 
of  money.  But  he  noticed  that  his  little  son  got  intensely 
excited,  and  was  very  anxious  that  his  father  should  win.  The 
father  went  to  bed  and  got  to  thinking,  and  he  said  to  his  wife, 
"  Our  son  was  terribly  excited  over  that  game,  and  I'm  afraid  it 
won't  be  long  before  he,  too,  will  be  playing  for  money."  And 
he  went  to  his  son  and  said,  "  You  were  very  much  excited  over 
that  game."  "  Yes,  I  was,"  said  the  boy.  "  Well,"  said  the 
father,  "I  did  wrong;  I  am  never  going  to  ])lay  cards  any 
more."  That  man  was  an  infidel ;  yet  he  had  sense  enough  to 
see  that  he  was  ruining  his  son.  I  would  to  God  that  the 
fathers  and  mcjthers  would  wake  up  and  see  the  danger  of  going 


"THIS    IS    NO    PLACE    FOR  ME." 


469 


too  far.  What  is  the  harm  of  this  game  or  that  ?  My  friends, 
I  will  never  play  a  game  of  chance  as  long  as  I  live.  I  would 
not  run  the  risk. 

Many  years  ago  while  I  was  in  London  I  was  invited  to  a 
dinner  party  in  a  Christian  family,  given  in  honor  of  two  or 
three  American  friends.  It  was  the  custom  to  drink  wine,  and 
there  were  no  less  than  seven  kinds  of  liquor  on  that  table.  At 
the  table  sat  an  elder,  and  near  him  was  a  young  lady  whom 
he  urged  to  drink.  I  saw  her  face  already  flushed  with  the 
wine,  and  she  kept  declining,  but  he  persisted  in  urging.  It 
was  late  and  I  thought  a  good  many  of  them  ought  to  be  in 
bed.  I  said,  "  This  is  no  place  for  D.  L.  Moody,"  so  I  asked  to 
be  excused.  I  left  the  table,  and  the  man  of  the  house  fol- 
lowed me  up  stairs. 

"  What  does  this  mean?  "  he  said. 

"  There  is  altogether  too  much  drinking  here  for  me,"  I 
replied. 

"  You  are  no  gentleman,  sir,"  he  said,  angrily. 

"  I  hope  I  am  a  Christian,  if  not  a  gentleman.  I  am  not 
going  to  sit  there  and  countenance  that,"  I  answered.  And 
I  stepped  out. 

Whenever  anything  comes  into  my  life  that  separates  me 
from.  God,  and  robs  me  of  peace  and  joy  and  love,  and  hides  His 
face  from  me,  I  must  give  it  up.     I  don't  care  what  it  is. 

It  is  the  custom  in  some  places,  on  some  occasions,  to  ofTer 
wine  to  young  people.  A  lady  told  me  only  a  short  time  ago 
that  she  had  to  strike  several  families  ofif  her  visiting  list  be- 
cause she  would  not  have  her  children  go  where  wine  was 
offered  to  them.  I  am  talking  about  "  Christian  people." 
When  drunkenness  is  everywhere,  and  the  wretchedness  and 
woe  it  causes  are  so  plainly  to  be  seen  don't  you  think  you 
ought  to  take  your  stand  against  it,  and  throw  all  your  influence 
against  such  a  dangerous  custom?  People  say  "They  all  do 
it."  They  don't.  Make  up  your  mind  that  not  all  will  do  it, 
if  you  stand  alone.  "  Oh,  but,"  some  one  says,  "  a  man  is  very 
weak  if  he  can't  resist  temptation."     A  man  may  be  made  of 


470 


A    DANGEROUS    EXPERIMENT. 


iron  and  have  a  giant  will;  he  may  be  able  to  drink  just  so 
much  and  stop  when  he  pleases ;  but  he  may  have  a  son  who 
does  not  possess  the  will-power  of  his  father,  and  if  he  attempts 
to  follow  his  father's  example  he  may  be  ruined.  It  is  a 
dangerous  experiment. 

A  little  breath  of  opposition  or  of  persecution  may  overcome 
us.  A  man  once  arose  in  one  of  our  meetings  and  said  he  had 
been  serving  Christ  for  six  months,  but  that  a  deacon  had 
thrown  a  bucket  of  cold  water  over  him  and  it  had  taken  the 
religion  all  out  of  him.  I  said,  "  My  friend,  religion  never 
struck  in  very  deep  if  a  bucket  of  cold  water  could  take  it  out." 
It  was  only  skin  deep.  If  you  have  got  a  strong  inside  fire,  cold 
water  won't  overcome  you. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

PERSONAL  WORK  IN  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

Enthusiasm  Essential  to  Success  —  Teachers  Pulling  One  Way  and 
Parents  Another  — ■  The  .  iscouraged  Superintendent  —  People 
Who  are  Like  a  Bundle  of  Shavings  —  Taking  Hold  and  "  Holding 
On"  —  A  Touching  Incident- — The  Little  Girl  Mr.  Moody  was 
Proud  Of  —  A  Rich  Young  Woman's  Choice  —  An  Amazed 
Father  and  iMothcr  • —  "  Can  You  Give  Me  a  Class?  "  —  The  Shoe- 
maker's Boy  —  "None  of  Your  Business  "  ^ — -Gaining  a  Raga- 
mufhn's  Confidence  —  "  If  you  Go  There  again  I'll  Flog  You"  — 
Taking  His  Floggings  in  Advance  —  President  Lincoln's  Visit 
to  Mr.  Moody's  Sunday-school  —  Feeling  Two  Inches  Taller  — 
A  Class  of  Frivolous  Girls  —  A  Pathetic  Story  —  Working  and 
Dying  — A  Night  Mr.  IMoody  Never  Forgot  — How  He  Lost  His 
Ambition  for  Business  —  An  Affecting  Parting  —  "I  Will  Meet 
You  Up  Yonder."' 

FOR  years  I  was  superintendent  of  a  Sunday-school  in 
Chicago,  and  I  learned  one  thing-  —  that  any  man  or 
woman  who  ever  took  charge  of  a  class  without  en- 
thusiasm did  not  succeed. 

It  is  sometimes  very  discouraging  when  you  have  been 
pulling  seven  days  in  the  week  one  way  to  get  children  inter- 
ested, and  their  parents  have  been  doing  all  they  could  to  pre- 
vent yott  from  prosecuting  your  work.  I  notice  that  those  who 
get  discouraged,  and  give  up  their  classes,  and  go  from  one 
scliool  to  another,  from  one  field  to  another,  are  never  success- 
ful ;  but  those  who  persevere  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
month  after  month,  are  always  blessed. 

I  met  a  young  man  in  Chicago  who  had  been  toiling  for 
years  in  the  Sunday-school  without  having  any  restilts,  so  far 
as  conversions  were  concerned.  There  were  about  fifty  boys 
in  his  class,  and  only  a  few  of  them  were  Christians.  He  came 
regularly  to  our  meetings,  was  one  of  the  ushers,  and  every 

(471) 


472 


AN    UNFAITHFUL    LEADER. 


once  in  a  while  there  would  be  a  request  for  prayer  for  that 
class.  After  a  while  their  hearts  were  moved,  and  out  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty  scholars  —  the  class  having  grown  to  that 
number  —  over  one  hundred  had  been  converted  and  were 
Avorking  for  the  Saviour.  "  Ye  shall  reap,  if  ye  faint  not." 
If  we  will  only  take  this  for  our  motto,  and  never  despair  even 
if  we  do  not  see  any  fruit  to-day.  or  next  week,  or  next  month, 
we  shall  not  be  discouraged.  Hold  on  to  God's  promises,  and 
believe  that  He  can  reach  the  hardest  heart. 

In  one  city  where  we  preached,  a  Sunday-school  superin- 
tendent came  to  one  of  our  morning  meetings ;  he  felt  that  he 
was  not  faithful  enough,  and  he  was  greatly  troubled.  He 
went  to  his  pastor  and  said : 

"  I  want  to  resign  my  position  as  superintendent ;  I  do  not 
feel  that  I  ought  to  be  superintendent  any  longer." 

"What  is  the  reason;  why  do  you  want  to  resign?"  the 
minister  asked. 

"  \\'ell,"  said  he,  "  I  am  afraid  I  am  not  converted.  If  I 
am,  I  am  so  cold  no  one  would  know  it ;  I  am  not  fit  to  pilot 
sinners  to  life  eternal,  not  fit  to  be  superintendent." 

"  Don't  you  think  that,  instead  of  resigning,  you  ought  to 
ask  God  to  bless  you?  "  the  minister  said. 

And  the  minister  knelt  with  him  right  there,  prayed  with 
him,  and  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days  he  found  relief. 
and  peace,  and  liappiness,  in  believing;  and  instead  of  want- 
ing to  give  up  his  school,  he  wanted  to  get  his  school  blessed 
likewise.  His  heart  hadn't  been  right,  and  that  was  the  reason 
why  his  Sunday-school  work  had  not  been  successful.  He 
confessed  this  to  his  school,  telling  tlum  that  he  had  not  been 
faithful,  but  that  he  had  at  last  got  right  with  God.  Mark  the 
result.  The  teachers  confessed  that  they  were  in  the  same  con- 
dition their  superintendent  had  been  in.  y\ll  the  teachers  in 
that  school  re-consecrated  ihcmselves  to  God  and  His  service. 
The  pastor  of  that  church  told  me  that  he  took  one  hundred 
and  thirty  into  that  school,  after  the  superintendent  and  the 
teachers  were  ready  for  their  duties  as  Christian  workers. 


PERSEVERAXCK  — PUNCTUALITY. 


473 


In  some  cities  where  we  have  been,  teachers  have  come  to 
me  and  said,  "  Mr.  Moody,  pray  for  ni\-  Sunday-school  schol- 
ars; "  and  I  would  just  take  the  teachers  aside  and  point  out 
their  duties  and  show  how  they  themselves  ought  to  be  able  to 
pray  for  their  pupils.  \'ery  often  they  would  come  to  the  next 
meeting,  and  the  prayer  would  go  up  from  them,  "  (lod  bless 
my  scholars." 

Let  me  say  to  you,  young  converts  who  have  just  com- 
menced a  Christian  life,  go  out  into  the  vineyard  at  once  and 
find  some  work  to  do  for  the  Master.  Just  persevere,  and  if 
the  work  does  not  seem  to  prosper,  go  right  on.  God  never 
uses  Christians  that  get  discouraged  and  disheartened,  and  His 
kingdom  is  never  built  up  through  them.  What  we  want  is 
courage  to  pcrsci'crc. 

Bring  your  classes  together,  and  pray  to  God  to  convert 
them.  Suppose  all  our  Sunday-school  teachers  should  say  : 
"  I  will  try  to  bring  my  children  to  Christ,"  what  a  reformation 
we  should  have !  Let  no  one  say  that  that  boy  is  too  small,  or 
that  girl  is  too  puny  or  insignificant  to  come  to  Christ.  Every 
one  is  valuable  to  the  Lord. 

I  like  these  men  who  take  hold  of  classes  and  don't  give 
them  up ;  who  attend  their  own  church  every  Sunday,  and  are 
not  drawn  away  by  some  elocjuent  preacher  from  abroad  who 
happens  to  be  filling  a  neighboring  pulpit.  They  are  right 
there  fifty-two  Sundays  in  the  year ;  you  know  where  to  find 
them  ;  they  are  always  at  their  post  of  duty ;  all  the  while  their 
influence  increases.  But  these  teachers  who  are  all  the  time 
running  here  and  there  never  accomplish  nuich. 

A  good  many  people  are  like  a  bundle  of  shavings  —  a  spark 
falls,  and  quickly  the  shavings  are  gone,  and  there's  scarcely 
any  ashes  left.  My  friends,  ten  thousand  such  Christians  are 
not  worth  one  who  makes  constancy  liis  motto.  W^e  don't 
want  any  revival  Christians  —  got  enough  of  them;  don't 
want  any  Sunday  Christians  —  got  enough  of  them.  What's 
wanted  are  men  who  are  established  in  good  works,  ;//(';;  fliat 
hold  oil.  A  man  who  does  one  thing  well  is  a  man  of  power. 
29 


474 


A    FAITHFUL  TEACHER. 


The  man  wlio  tries  a  hundred  things  generally  fails  at  evcr\- 
thing.  If  God  calls  me  to  Sunday-school  work  1  will  stand  by 
my  l^ost.  If  God  calls  me  to  lead  a  prayer-meeting  or  read  the 
Bible  I  must  hold  on,  and  it  w'on't  be  long  before  God  will  l)ring 
success,  for  He  has  promised  that  "  Vc  shall  reap  if  ye  faint 
not."  God  will  try  you;  you  will  have  some  things  to  dis- 
courage you,  but  you  must  Jiold  on. 

How  God  uses  weak  things!  Ralph  Wells  tells  a  touch- 
ing incident  of  an  old  lady  who  lived  in  New  York  State  during 
the  Civil  Wslv.  She  was  poor,  seventy-five  years  old,  had  a 
Sunday-school  class,  and  she  lived  two  miles  from  the  church. 
One  Sunday  when  it  stormed  very  hard  she  thought  she  could 
not  possibly  go  to  Sunday-school,  because  it  was  so  far  away. 
She  said:  "  It  storms  so  hard  I  think  I  won't  go;  "  but  the 
thought  came  to  her,  "  .Suppose  some  of  my  scholars  should  be 
there.  If  they  come  through  this  storm  it  will  be  because  they 
are  interested." 

So  the  old  lady  walked  two  miles  in  a  bitter,  driving  storm, 
and  she  found  one  young  man  of  her  class  present.  She  talked 
with  him  about  the  Saviour  and  ])ra\e(l  for  him.  It  is  good 
sometimes  to  come  down  to  one  ])U])il.  Where  there  are  a 
great  many  in  the  class  each  one  ma\-  think  you  mean  sonic 
one  else  when  you  talk  to  them  all,  but  when  only  one  is  ])resent 
there  can  be  no  mistake.  lie  knew  that  the  teacher  meant 
him.  The  next  Sunday  he  was  not  there,  and  she  made  in- 
quiries and  learned  that  he  had  enlisted  in  the  army.  Two 
years  after  she  learned  that  he  was  dying  in  a  .Southern  hos- 
pital, and  he  sent  word  to  her  that  that  stormy  Sunday  was  the 
turning  point  in  his  life.  He  had  tried  to  forget  it,  but  could 
not.  The  thought  that  she  had  come  two  miles  in  that  terrible 
storm  to  do  a  little  good  made  a  deep  impression  ui)on  him, 
and  led  him  to  the  Saviour.  He  sent  back  a  rejoicing  message. 
Was  she  not  repaid  for  walking  that  two  miles  in  a  winter 
storm?  What  she  accomplisheil  would  have  paid  her  for 
going  a  himdred  miles.  That  .'"^unday-school  scholar  and  his 
teacher  are  in  glory  now. 


CllILDRKX    AS    WURKKRS.  Aye 

Little  children  are  apt  to  be  overlooked ;  but  they,  too,  must 
be  led  to  Christ.  Children  have  done  a  great  deal  in  His  vine- 
yard. They  have  led  parents  to  Jesus.  Christ  can  find  useful 
work  for  these  little  ones.  A  teacher  in  Southern  Illinois  who 
had  taught  a  little  girl  to  love  the  Saviour  said  to  her,  "  Cati'i 
you  get  your  father  to  come  to  Sunday-school?  "  Her  fath.er 
was  a  swearing,  drinking  man,  and  the  love  of  God  was  not  in 
his  heart.  Uut  under  the  tuition  of  that  teacher  the  little  girl 
went  to  him  and  told  him  of  Jesus'  love,  and  finally  led  him 
to  the  Sunday-school.  What  was  the  result?  He  was  instru- 
mental in  fcDunding  over  seven  hundred  and  eighty  Sunday- 
schools  in  southern  Illinois.  What  a  great  privilege  a  teacher 
has  —  the  privilege  of  leading  souls  to  Christ.  Let  every 
teacher  say  :  ''  By  the  help  of  God  I  will  try  to  lead  my  scholars 
to  Christ." 

A  little  girl  only  eleven  years  old  once  came  to  me  in  a 
Sunday-school  and  said  :  "  Won't  you  please  pray  that  God  will 
make  me  a  winner  of  souls?  "  I  felt  proud  of  her,  and  my 
pride  was  justified,  for  she  became  one  of  the  best  winners  of 
souls  in  this  country.  Suppose  she  lives  threescore  years,  and 
goes  on  winning  four  or  five  souls  every  year  ;  at  the  end  of  her 
life's  journey  there  will  be  three  hundred  souls  on  the  way  to 
glory.  How  long  will  it  be  before  that  little  company  swells 
to  a  great  army.  Don't  you  see  how  that  little  mountain  rill 
keeps  swelling  till  it  carries  everything  before  it  ?  Little  trick- 
ling streams  have  run  into  it,  till  now,  a  mighty  river,  it  h^s 
great  cities  on  its  banks,  and  the  commerce  of  all  nations  float- 
ing on  its  waters.  So  w-hcn  a  single  soul  is  won  to  Christ  you 
cannot  see  the  result.  A  single  one  multiplies  to  a  thousand, 
and  they  into  ten  thousand.  Perhaps  a  million  souls  will  be 
the  fruit,  we  cannot  tell.  We  know  that  the  Christian  who  has 
turned  so  many  to  righteousness  shall  shine  forever. 

If  a  .Sunday-school  teacher  does  not  love  his  scholars  —  if 
he  hurries  through  the  lesson  as  if  it  were  something  he  wished 
to  get  through  with,  it  will  not  be  long  before  they  find  it  out. 
Tliey  will  see  it  in  his  eyes,  in  his  face,  in  his  actions. 


4/6 


WlXMXt;     SOl'LS    TIlKurc.ll     I.(»\'K. 


A  few  years  ago  a  little  bo)'  eanie  to  one  of  our  mission 
Sunday-schools.  His  father  moved  to  another  part  of  the  city 
about  five  miles  away,  and  every  Sunday  that  boy  went  ])ast 
thirty  or  forty  Sunday-schools  to  the  one  he  attended.  (  >nv 
Sunday  a  lady  who  was  out  gathering  scholars  met  him  and 
asked  him  why  he  went  past  so  many  schools.  "  There  are 
plenty  of  others,"  said  she,  "  just  as  good." 

"They  may  be  just  as  good,  but  they  are  not  so  good  for 
me,"  he  said. 

"  \\'hy  not?  "  she  asked. 

"  I  because  the}-  love  a  fellow  over  there,"  he  answered. 

Ah!  love  won  him.  "  ]U'cause  they  love  a  fellow  over 
there!  "  How  eas\  it  is  to  reach  people  through  love!  Win 
the  affections  of  your  scholars  if  you  would  lead  them  to  Christ. 

I  have  been  told  of  a  \oung  lad\  whose  i)arents  were  very 
wealthy  and  who  sent  her  to  be  educated  in  the  best  schools 
tliex-  could  find.  They  were  very  anxious  that  she  should  move 
in  tlie  highest  circles  of  society.  Among  her  teachers  was  a 
lady  who  worked  for  Christ.  \\y  constant  labor  she  won  this 
young  girl's  heart,  and  pleaded  with  her  to  become  a  Christian. 
She  succeeded,  and  the  young  lady  became  a  worker  in  the 
vineyard  of  the  Lord.  She  labored  with  her  schoolmates,  and 
God  used  her  in  winning  a  number  of  young  ladies  in  that 
school  to  Christ.  She  returned  home,  and  her  father  and 
mother  wanted  her  to  shine  in  fashionable  society.  They  were 
amazed  that  she  had  no  desire  for  worldl\'  things,  and  that  the}- 
couldn't  get  her  interested  in  them.  She  went  to  a  Sunday- 
school  superintendent  and  said,  "  Can  you  give  me  a  class  in 
your  Sunday-school?  "  He  was  surprised  to  liear  her  ask  for 
a  class,  and  he  told  her  tliat  he  had  none  that  he  could  give  her 
then.  She  went  away  with  a  resolve  to  do  what  she  could  out- 
side of  the  school. 

One  day  she  saw  a  little  boy  running  out  of  a  shoemaker's 
shop,  and  behind  him  was  an  old  shoemaker  witli  a  wooden 
last  in  his  hand  chasing  him.  I  fe  had  not  run  far  w lun  llie  last 
was  thrown  at  him,  and  he  was  struck  in  the  back.     'Hie  bov 


i-ixDixc.   A   rri'iL 


477 


stopped  and  began  to  cry.  Ihc  spirit  of  God  tonchcd  that 
young  lady's  heart  and  \vhis[)ercd.  "  There  is  )our  work." 
She  stepped  u{)  and  spoke  to  him  kindlw  asking  him  if  lie  was 
hurt. 

"  None  of  yoiu'  I)usincss."  lie  said. 

She  went  to  work  to  win  his  confidence.  She  asked  him 
if  he  went  to  school 

"  Xo." 

'■  Well  \\h}-  don't  }OU  go  to  school?" 

'■  Don't  want  to." 

"  If  you  will  come,"  she  said,  "  1  will  tell  you  beautiful 
stories  and  you  can  hear  the  singing." 

"  Well,  they  will  laugh  at  me  if  I  go." 

"  If  you  will  come  you  can  be  in  my  class,  and  I  won't  have 
any  one  in  my  class  but  yourself,  and  I  won't  laugh  at  you," 
she  said. 

At  last  she  gained  his  confidence,  and  he  promised  to  go. 
.She  agreed  to  meet  him  on  the  corner  of  the  street,  and  the  next 
Sunday,  true  to  his  promise,  he  waited  for  her  at  the  place 
designated.  She  took  him  by  the  hand  and  led  him  into  the 
Sunday-school.  He  had  no  shoes  on,  his  hands  and  face  were 
dirty,  his  clothes  were  ragged,  and  his  hair  was  not  combed. 

"  Can  you  give  me  a  place  to  teach  this  little  boy?  "  she 
asked  of  the  superintendent. 

He  looked  at  the  boy,  but  they  didn't  have  any  such  looking 
little  ones  in  the  school.  A  place  was  found,  however,  and  she 
sat  down  in  the  corner  and  tried  to  win  his  soul  for  Christ.  She 
had  found  something  to  do  for  the  Master. 

When  he  went  home  he  told  liis  mother  that  he  had  been 
among  the  angels  ;  that  he  had  never  heard  such  sweet  singing 
in  his  life.  But  when  his  father  found  out  where  he  had  been, 
he  said : 

"  That  is  a  Protestant  Sunday-school,  and  if  you  go  there 
again  I'll  flog  you." 

The  next  Sunda\'  the  boy  slipped  in  to  the  .Sundav-schoo! 
again,  and  when  the  father  found  it  out  he  flogged  him.  and  told 


478 


IXTERKST    STRtlNC.KR    THAN    FEAR. 


liini  he  would  flog  him  cvcr\  time  he  went  there.  He  kept 
going-,  however,  and  took  the  Hoggings.  One  Sunday  he  said 
to  his  father : 

I  wish  you  would  l1og  me  before  1  go  and  then  I  won't 
be  thinking  about  it  all  the  time  I'm  there." 

Al}-  friends,  there  is  something  stronger  than  the  fear  of 
punishment.  Get  hold  of  a  person's  heart,  and  he  will  brave 
all  kinds  of  opposition.  When  the  father  found  that  he  couldn't 
flog  it  out  of  him  he  said : 

"  If  you  will  give  up  the  Sunday-school  I  n'ill  give  you 
every  Saturday  afternoon  to  play,  or  you  can  have  all  you  can 
make  by  peddling." 

The  boy  went  around  to  see  the  teacher  and  said : 

"  Father  says  I  may  have  every  Saturday  afternoon  if  I  will 
keep  away  from  the  Sunda}-school,  and  I  have  been  thinking, 
if  you  are  willing,  I  would  say  to  him  that  I  would  give  it  up. 
Then  I  can  come  around  and  spend  Saturday  afternoons  with 
you,  and  we  will  have  more  time  together  than  we  would  on 
Sunday." 

"  Certainly,"  the  teacher  said.  "  I  will  do  it." 

So  she  gave  up  her  Saturday  afternoons  to  him.  If  she  was 
invited  out  on  those  afternoons,  she  was  always  engaged;  if 
she  had  callers,  she  was  engaged.  She  gave  herself  up  to 
teaching  that  boy  the  way  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  She 
labored  with  him  earnestl\-,  and  at  last  the  light  of  God's  spirit 
broke  upon  his  heart. 

One  day  while  he  was  selling  his  wares  at  the  railroad  sta- 
tion he  slipped  and  fell  from  the  platform  as  a  train  of  cars  was 
approaching,  and  the  whole  train  passed  over  both  of  his  legs. 
A  physician  was  summoned,  and  the  little  sufiferer  looked  up 
into  his  face  and  said  : 

"  Doctor,  will  I  live  to  get  home?  " 

"  No,"  said  the  doctor,  "  you  arc  dying." 

"  Will  you  tell  my  mother  and  father  that  I  died  a  Chris- 
tian?" 

They  bore  the  little  fellow's  mutilated  body  home,  and  with 


MR.    MOODY'S    SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  ^yg 

it  his  last  message  that  he  died  a  Christian.  Oh,  what  a  noble 
work  was  that  young  lady's  in  saving  that  little  wanderer! 
How  precious  the  remembrance  to  her ! 

I  wonder  how  many  young  ladies  there  are  who  would  give 
up  their  Saturday  fternoons  just  to  lead  one  boy  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  !  I  think  they  are  very  scarce.  I  have  found  them 
very  scarce  who  will  begin  work  of  that  kind  and  hold  on  to  it. 
I  don't  believe  there  is  a  child  anywhere  that  could  not  be  led  to 
Christ  if  some  godly  man  or  woman  would  work  earnestly 
to  get  him. 

I  want  to  tell  you  how  God  woke  me  up.  I  used  to  be 
active  in  general  Christian  work  ;  but  I  had  no  experience  in 
this  personal  work,  this  individual  work  ;  like  a  man  talking  to 
another  about  being  one  of  Christ's  disciples,  or  a  teacher  talk- 
ing to  Sunday-school  scholars  on  Sunday,  and  then  going 
around  and  talking  to  them  one  by  one  during  the  week.  At 
one  time  I  hired  five  pe\ws  in  the  church  and  filled  them  every 
Sunday ;  but  I  never  spoke  to  one  of  the  men  I  got  there.  I 
thought  the  real  orthodox  way  of  preaching  sermons  was  the 
best;  I  never  spoke  to  one  of  them.  No  one  called  my  atten- 
tion to  it,  and  I  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  my  work.  I  soon  got 
permission  to  use  the  large  Music  Hall  —  the  city  gave  me  the 
use  of  it  —  and  I  worked  to  fill  it ;  if  I  could  run  that  school  up 
to  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred,  I  was  greatly  elated ;  if  it  ran 
down  below  a  thousand  I  was  depressed.  I  would  work  all  day 
Sunday  to  get  scholars  in.  I  remember  when  President  Lin- 
coln came  and  visited  that  school  I  felt  two  inches  taller ;  I 
thought  I  was  doing  a  great  work.  If  you  had  asked  me  how 
many  had  been  converted  I  would  have  said:  "  ^^'ell,  we  are 
just  sowing;  the  reapers  are  coming  on  behind."  But  some 
how  or  other  we  did  no  reaping.  When  a  boy  got  to  be  fifteen 
or  sixteen  years  old  he  drifted  away  from  us  and  the  world  got 
him.     Yet  I  toiled  on  in  that  way  perfectly  satisfied. 

I  will  tell  you  what  woke  me  up.  T  had  a  class  in  that 
school,  and  there  wasn't  a  single  person  that  could  manage  it, 
and  it  was  a  class  of  girls.     It  seemed  as  if  they  were  born 


48o 


THE    DYING    TEACHER. 


laughing-  and  giggling.  I  finally  gave  them  over  to  a  teacher, 
and  told  him  if  he  would  just  keep  them  cjuiet  that  would 
satisfy  me.  One  Sunday  he  was  absent  and  I  took  the  class, 
but  they  laughed  in  my  face,  and  I  had  a  great  mind  to  open 
the  door  and  just  order  them  all  out.  That  week  the  teacher 
came  into  the  store  to  see  me.  I  noticed  as  he  came  in  that  he 
was  very  pale  and  weak,  and  as  he  took  a  seat  on  a  box  he  said  : 

"  I  have  come  to  bid  you  good-bye." 

"Why?"  Tasked. 

"  I  have  had  a  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  and  the  doctor  tells 
me  I  can't  live  here ;  I  am  going  home  to  my  widowed  mother 
to  die." 

"  You  are  not  afraid  of  death,  I  hope?  " 

"  No,  it  isn't  that." 

"  What  is  the  trouble  ?  " 

"  Moody,"  he  said.  "  I  don't  know  of  anyone  in  this  world 
that  I  ever  led  to  Christ,  and  none  of  my  Sunday-school  class 
is  converted  ;  I  can't  bear  the  thought  that  \\  hen  I  get  up 
yonder  I  shall  not  meet  one  that  has  ever  been  made  better 
because  of  my  life.  What  shall  I  say  when  I  come  to  give  an 
account  of  my  stewardship?  " 

I  began  to  feel  rather  awkward  myself;  what  should  /  say  if 
I  was  called  to  give  an  account  of  my  stewardship  ?     I  said  : 

"  Suppose  you  go  and  see  them  and  tell  them  just  how  you 
feel?" 

"  When  I  had  strength,"  he  said.  "  I  didn't  go,  and  now  I 
can't." 

I  got  a  carriage  and  helped  him  into  it  and  we  started  out. 
I  don't  believe  I  should  be  here  now  if  it  had  not  been  for  that 
day's  experience  ;  God  gave  me  a  revelation  that  day.  I  drove 
up  to  the  first  house  and  we  got  out,  and  he  reeled  across  the 
sidewalk  and  went  into  the  house.  He  knew  every  one  of  his 
girls  by  name.     He  said  to  this  one : 

"  Mary,  I  must  leave  Chicago  ;  I  can't  stay  here  any  longer ; 
but  before  I  leave  I  want  you  to  become  a  Christian." 

After  he  had  talked  a  while,  he  prayed,  and  then  I  prayed. 


Tin-:    CLASS    WON    TO    CHRIST. 


481 


W  hen  lie  got  tired  out  1  took  him  home,  and  the  next  day  I 
took  him  out  again ;  and  for  ten  days  he  labored  in  that  way, 
sometimes  alone  and  sometimes  I  went  with  him.  We  visited 
every  member  of  the  class.  Do  you  know,  those  frivolous  girls 
suddenly  became  very  serious.  One  day  he  came  into  the 
store,  his  face  beaming,  and  said ; 

"  I  have  good  news  to  tell  you ;  the  last  one  of  my  class  has 
yielded  her  heart  to  Christ  to-day,  and  I  am  going  home  to- 
morrow.    I  have  come  to  bid  you  good-bye." 

"  You  are  going  to  be  here  to-night,  you  say ;  wouldn't  you 
like  to  meet  the  class  all  together  before  you  go?  "  I  said. 

He  said  he  would  ;  and  I  sent  a  message  to  all  the  girls. 

That  night  (iod  kindled  a  fire  in  my  soul  that  has  never  gone 
out.  I  can't  tell  you  \\hat  a  night  it  was!  The  dying  teacher 
told  those  girls  how  God  had  helped  him.  After  he  had  talked 
a  while  and  read  the  Bible,  he  kneeled  down  to  pray ;  he  prayed 
for  me  as  superintendent  of  the  school ;  after  he  prayed  I 
prayed  ;  and  when  I  was  about  to  rise,  to  my  surprise  one  of 
those  scholars  began  to  pray,  and  she,  too,  prayed  for  the 
superintendent.  Before  we  rose  from  our  knees  every  one  had 
prayed.  It  seemed  as  if  heaven  and  earth  came  together  in 
that  room. 

The  next  day  I  w^ent  back  to  the  store,  but,  to  my  great 
amazement,  I  had  lost  all  ambition  for  business.  Up  to  that 
hour  I  had  made  everything  bend  to  succeeding  in  Imsiness ; 
that  was  the  height  of  my  ambition.  That  day  I  couldn't  take 
any  interest  in  l)usiness  ;  I  felt  as  if  I  would  like  to  bid  that 
teacher  Godspeed.  I  went  down  to  the  railway  station  to  see 
him  off.  It  was  a  beautiful  summer  evening,  and  every  one  of 
the  class  was  there.  While  we  stood  there  we  sang  a  Sunday- 
school  hymn  : 

"  Here  \vc  meet  to  part  again. 
But  when  we  meet  on  Canaan's  shore, 
There'll  be  no  parting  there." 

There  stood  the  engineer  and  fireman  with  tears  trickling  down 
their  faces.     When  the  conductor  shouted  "  All  aboard,"  the 


482  'f^^    LUXURY    OF    PERSONAL    WORK. 

teacher  stepped  up  on  the  platform,  and  as  the  car  moved  off, 
with  his  fing-er  pointing  lieavcnward,  he  said: 

"  I  will  meet  you  up  yonder." 

The  work  that  began  then  in  that  school  has  been  going  on 
ever  since.  Sometime  afterwards,  when  I  was  preaching  in 
California,  I  recognized  a  lady  in  the  audience,  and  after  the 
service  I  said  to  her : 

"  Have  you  ever  lost  sight  of  Christ  since  that  dying- 
teacher  led  you  into  the  kingdom?  " 

"  No,"  she  said. 

"  A\'hat  are  you  doing  for  Christ  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  I  have  a  Sunday-school  class  of  a  hundred  scholars." 

"  Have  you  ever  given  up  Sunday-school  work  since  that 
time?  " 

"  No,  sir." 

Those  scholars  scattered  over  different  parts  of  the  Lord's 
kingdom,  but  not  one  of  them  that  I  ever  heard  of  turned  back 
again  to  the  world  ;  I  believe  they  were  all  true  to  God.  I 
honestly  believe  that  I  should  never  have  given  up  Inisiness  if 
it  had  not  been  for  that  experience. 

Life  is  very  sweet  to  me,  but  I  would  rather  die  to-night 
than  to  go  back  to  that  time  when  I  was  only  a  nominal  Chris- 
tian and  didn't  know  the  luxury  of  personal  work.  I  j)ity  the 
man  or  woman  that  has  never  had  a  taste  of  this  personal  work. 
If  you  haven't  had  it  may  God  give  it  to  you. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

THE    GOOD    SAMARITAN. 

The  Man  Who  Fell  Among  Thieves  —  The  Priest  Who  Passed  Him 
By  —  John  Wesley's  Motto  —  A  Cry  for  Help  —  Criminal  Selfish- 
ness —  Driven  Out  of  Town  —  Too  Many  Committees  —  The 
Levite  —  The  Good  Intention  —  "Drawing"  Church  Members  — 
Blaming  the  Usher  —  The  Chinaman  and  the  Hoodlums  —  Race 
Prejudice  —  The  Kind-hearted  Samaritan  —  A  "Blowing  Up"  — 
A  Year  Wasted  —  Binding  Up  His  Wounds  —  A  Worker  in  the 
Seven  Dials  —  Gathering  in  the  Outcasts  —  Giving  Time,  Money, 
and  Personal  Effort  —  The  Fiddling  Infidel  —  Paying  the  Inn- 
Keeper —  A  Pung  Full  of  Boys  —  "  Hitch  On  "  —  Watching  for  a 
Chance  to  Ride  —  "  Get  Away  !  Get  Away  !  "  —  The  Hopeful 
Mother  —  A  Serious  Case  of  Homesickness  —  No  Comfort  in 
Looking  at  Jackknives  —  The  Beautiful  New  Cent  —  Kindness 
Never  Forgotten  —  Lending  to  the  Lord. 

1  REMEMBER  hearing  Dr.  Kirk  once  speak  at  a  convention 
in  the  West.     He  opened  his  address  by  giving  a  picture 

of  Heaven.  I  said,  "  That's  the  finest  thing  I  ever  heard  !  " 
But  he  stopped  and  said,  "  My  friends,  that's  not  what  we  are 
here  for.  We  have  come  to  decide  what  we  will  do  to  have 
the  world  converted."  I  shall  never  forget  that  part  of  his 
speech. 

I  believe,  if  the  truth  was  known,  that  every  man's  life  is 
planned  by  the  Almighty,  and  away  back  in  the  councils  of 
eternity  God  laid  out  work  for  each  one  of  us.  There  is  no 
man  living  that  can  do  the  work  He  has  laid  out  for  me  to  do. 
No  one  can  do  it  but  myself.  And  if  our  work  is  not  done  we 
shall  have  to  answer  for  it  when  we  stand  at  God's  bar.  It 
seems  to  me  that  every  one  of  us  ought  to  take  this  question 
home  to  our  hearts :  "  Am  I  doing  the  work  that  God  meant 
for  me  to  do?  " 

Now,  you  -will  notice  in  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan, 

(4S3) 


^84  FALLEN    AMONG    THIEVES. 

that  Christ  brings  four  men  to  that  skeptical  lawyer's  consider- 
ation. The  first  was  a  wounded  man  who  had  been  stripped  by 
thieves ;  the  next  was  a  priest ;  the  next  was  a  Levite ;  and  the 
next  was  a  good  Samaritan.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  take  a  good 
look  at  these  four  men.  The  wounded  Jew  had  gone  from 
Jerusalem  down  to  Jericho,  and  misfortune  overtook  him. 
You  will  find  plenty  of  such  people ;  they  have  fallen  among 
thieves,  and  they  need  help.  The  priest  came  down  that  way. 
He  had  probably  been  ofificiating  at  Jerusalem.  He  was,  per- 
haps, in  very  high  standing.  If  we  had  him  here  now  we 
should  probably  give  him  high-sounding  titles,  —  Rev.  Levi, 
D.D.,  LL.D.  Perhaps  he  said  as  he  saw  that  poor  wounded 
Jew,  "  Poor  fellow,  I  pity  him.  If  he  were  in  my  parish  I 
would  look  after  him.  But  I've  not  been  appointed  to  look 
after  men  between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho." 

I  once  asked  a  minister  to  pronounce  the  benediction,  and 
he  said  he  wasn't  in  his  own  parish,  and  he  couldn't  do  it.  I 
felt  sorry  for  him.  What  was  the  motto  the  mighty  man,  John 
Wesley,  gave  us?  "The  World  is  My  Parish."  Never  stop 
to  ask  whether  the  man  who  needs  your  help  is  a  Jew  or  a  Gen- 
tile. He  is  your  brother.  I  have  no  doubt  that  priest  was  full 
of  pity  in  his  head,  but  empty  of  pity  in  his  heart.  He  saw  that 
wounded  man  lying  there  suffering  and  dying,  and  he  spoke 
no  word  to  him.  There  might  have  been  a  spring  near,  but 
he  never  gave  him  a  drop  of  water,  and  he  "  passed  by  on  the 
other  side."     "  Let  him  die ;  he  is  nothing  to  me." 

A  few  years  ago  there  was  a  man  who  fell  through  the  ice 
into  the  water.  It  was  a  bitter  cold  night  in  winter,  and  a  man 
living  on  the  shore  near  by  heard  the  drowning  man  cry 
''Help!  Help!"  And  the  man  in  the  house  said.  "I  don't 
want  to  be  disturbed  this  cold  night,"  and  he  left  the  poor  man 
to  his  fate.  Tlic  next  day  the  body  of  the  drowned  man  was 
found.  When  it  was  known  that  the  man  on  the  shore  had 
done  such  a  mean,  contemptible  thing  his  neighbors  hounded 
him  out  of  town. 

But  we  hear  the  cry  of  the  poor  and  lost  all  arotmd  us,  lost 


I'ASSINc;    BV  — LOOKING    ON. 


485 


for  time  and  for  ctcrnit}-,  and  we  "  pass  by  on  the  other  side." 

"  He  doesn't  belong"  to  my  parish !  " 

''  I'm  a  Methodist,  and  I  look  after  the  Methodists!  " 

"  He  belongs  to  the  baptists.     I  look  after  them  !  '" 

"  He  is  a  Congregationalist ;  let  the  Congregationalists  look 
out  for  him  !  " 

I  say,  if  a  man  is  in  troul^le,  HKLP  him  ! 

The  priest  passed  on.  Perhaps  he  was  going  to  dedicate 
a  synagogue  in  Jericho,  and  he  must  hasten  down  there  to 
attend  to  his  "  ecclesiastical  "  duties.  I  have  been  told  that 
"  we  have  so  many  committees  and  divisions  in  our  churches 
that  we  haven't  time  to  do  the  Lord's  work." 

The  Levite  came  after  him..  He  would  be  a  deacon  in  New 
England,  or  a  church  warden.  He  was  of  a  dififerent  turn  of 
mind.  He  looked  at  the  wounded  Jew,  and  he,  too,  "  passed  by 
on  the  other  side."  But  he  stopped  long  enough  to  "  look  " 
at  him.  I  don't  know  but  he  put  his  hands  in  his  pocket,  and 
said : 

"  I  pity  that  man.  I  know  him.  He  lives  on  a  back  street 
and  has  a  wife  and  ten  children.  Won't  it  be  a  dark  day  for 
them  when  he  is  taken  away?  Perhaps  he  has  been  wont  to 
put  some  money  into  the  treasury.  I  will  go  down  to  Jericho 
and  see  if  I  can  get  somebody  to  help.  I  will  call  it  '  The 
Jerusalem  and  Jericho  Committee  to  look  after  wounded  Jews 
between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho  ' ;  and  I  will  give  five  dollars 
as  a  salve  to  my  conscience.  I  will  see  if  I  can't  get  some  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  Jericho  synagogue  to  appoint  more 
soldiers  to  guard  that  road.  It  is  a  burning  shame  that  a  man 
can't  go  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  without  falling  among 
thieves."  Such  things  are  going  on  in  our  cities  all  the  time. 
Alen  are  dying  for  want  of  our  help. 

I  am  told  that  I  can  find  ten  thousand  priests  and  Levites 
easier  that  one  good  Samaritan.  They  are  mighty  scarce. 
How  many  times  the  question  is  asked,  "  How  shall  we  get  a 
'drawing'  minister?"  What  we  want  is  "drawing  church- 
members."     Put  a  rich  man  at  the  end  of  a  pew,  and  if  a  work- 


486 


THE    OLD    Py^RTV    Sl'IRlT. 


ing-  man  is  ushered  in  to  sit  beside  him  the  pew-owner  will  very 
likely  say  to  the  usher  at  the  first  opportunity: 

"  What  did  \ou  put  that  man  in  my  pew  for?  I  pay  fifty 
dollars  a  year  for  that  ])cw." 

The  pew  has  probably  been  half  empty  for  five  years,  but 
the  usher  gets  a  blowing  up  for  seating  a  poor  man  in  it.  Talk 
about  "  difficulties  "  and  "  obstacles."  No  obstacles  in  God's 
way.  "  Go  and  do  likewise,"  and  you  will  "  reach  the  working- 
men."  There's  no  trouble.  Take  a  man  that's  down  and  help 
him  up,  and  it  is  worth  hundreds  of  sermons. 

I  was  in  California  some  years  ago,  and  a  Chinaman  was 
walking  up  the  street  quietly,  when  one  of  the  hoodlums  took 
him  by  his  cue  and  pulled  him  down  on  the  sidewalk  and 
threatened  to  kill  him.     I  said  : 

"  That  man  has  never  done  you  any  harm.  What  do  you 
want  to  kill  him  for?  '" 

A  gentleman  told  me  I  came  near  being  killed  myself  for 
saying  so.     The  hoodlum  replied  : 

"  That  dog  ain't  got  no  soul." 

Samaritans  to  the  orthodox  Jews  were  about  the  same.  We 
know  that  the  Samaritan  was  the  only  man  under  Heaven  that 
could  not  become  a  proselyte  to  the  Jewish  faith.  The  Jews 
would  not  buy  or  sell  to  a  Samaritan.  Now,  the  Jew  must 
have  a  pretty  poor  opinion  of  a  man  if  he  won't  sell  to  him, 
when  there  is  a  possibility  of  making  anything  out  of  him. 

I  recently  heard  an  incident  related  illustrating  this  preju- 
dice. A  colored  woman  got  into  a  street  car  and  sat  down  near 
an  Irish  woman.  The  Irish  woman  drew  up  her  skirts  and 
edged  along ;  and  by  and  by  a  Chinaman  got  in  and  sat  down 
near  the  colored  woman,  and  she  drew  up  Jirr  skirts  and  edged 
along.  It's  easy  enough  to  talk  about  the  Jews  not  liking  the 
Samaritans,  but  there's  some  of  that  feeling  left  yet.  Once  in  a 
while,  when  we  are  trying  to  get  a  man  on  the  right  road,  and 
we  ask  some  one  to  help  us,  he  says,  "  I  am  a  ]\oman  Catholic." 
"  Well,"  we  say,  "  we  are  Protestants."  So  we  give  no  assist- 
ance  to   each   other.     The   party   spirit   of   old   has   not   all 


rXITV    IX     HKU'I-TLXHSS. 


487 


vanished  yet.  The  Protestants  will  have  nothing"  to  do  with 
the  Catholics ;  the  Jews  will  have  nothing-  to  do  with  the  Gen- 
tiles. And  there  was  a  time  —  but,  th.ank  God,  w-e  are  getting 
over  it  —  when  a  Methodist  wouldn't  touch  a  Baptist,  or  a 
Presbyterian  a  Congregationalist ;  and  if  we  saw  a  Methodist 
taking  a  man  out  of  a  ditch,  a  P)aptist  would  say,  "  Well,  what 
are  you  going  to  do  with  him  ?  "  "  Take  him  to  a  Methodist 
church."  "  Well,  I'll  have  nothing  to  do  with  hi"m."  A  great 
deal  of  this  has  gone  by,  and  the  time  is  coming  wdien,  if  we 
are  trying  to  help  a  man  out  of  the  ditch,  and  others  see  us 
tugging  at  him,  and  we  are  so  weak  that  we  cannot  get  him 
out,  they  will  help  him,  too.  And  that  is  \\'hat  Christ  wants. 
Do  yoti  suppose  w  hen  you  go  to  Heaven  that  the  Lord  will  ask 
whether  you  came  from  Boston  or  New  York,  whether  you  are 
a  Jew,  Gentile,  Catholic,  or  Protestant  ?  Let's  get  above  these 
things. 

I  can  see  that  good  Samaritan  coming  along,  with  eyes 
bright,  and  a  sunny  face.  He  hears  the  sufYerer  groan,  and 
dismounts  at  once  and  goes  into  the  bush,  and  there  the 
wounded  Jew  lies  dying.  And  the  Samaritan  says,  "  I  see. 
He  is  a  son  of  Abraham."  If  he  had  been  like  some  I  know^  he 
would  have  said  : 

"  I'll  give  that  fellow  a  lecture.  I'll  give  him  a  piece  of  my 
mind.  I'll  help  him  by-and-by,  but  I'll  give  him  a  draught  of 
vinegar  first,  and  I  wnll  put  oil  in  his  wounds  afterward.  You 
have  called  us  Samaritans.  I'll  help  you,  but  I  want  you  to 
understand  that  you  deserve  just  what  you've  got." 

A  gentleman  in  Chicago  often  used  to  give  me  a  good 
"  blowing  up,"  but  he  always  gave  me  a  check  afterwards,  but 
that  blowing  up  always  came  first.  Some  people  carry  a  bottle 
of  vinegar  around  with  them,  and  then  always  wonder  why 
people  are  not  "  drawn  towards  them."  It  is  a  wonder,  isn't 
it?  That  good  Samaritan  didn't  bring  out  the  vinegar,  and 
he  didn't  stop  to  ask  "  Who  are  you  ?  "  "  Where  did  you  come 
from?"  "AMiere  are  you  going?"  But  he  said  to  himself, 
"  The  man  is  dying.     He  needs  help.     I  must  attend  to  his 


488 


LIVING    SERMONS, 


needs,  and  get  him  up  from  hero."  He  (hchi't  stop  to  discuss 
his  faults  and  criticise  him.  He  didn't  read  a  manuscript  forty 
minutes  long.  There  is  a  class  of  men  who  think  the  world  is 
going  to  be  lifted  up  by  manuscripts,  brethren,  we  want  some- 
thing besides  written  sermons.  We  want  a  few  sermons  with 
hands  and  feet.  That  poor  fellow  didn't  care  to  hear  an  essay 
just  then.  The  Samaritan  might  have  pulled  out  a  manuscript 
and  said,  "  Now  I  will  tell  }ou  just  when  sin  came  into  the 
world."  "  But,"  the  poor  fellow  would  have  said,  "  I  am  dying. 
Help  me!  "     "  Oh,  but  first  let  me  tell  }on  the  origin  of  sin." 

I  once  said  to  a  young  man  : 

"  Go  out  and  work  for  God.  You  have  health  and  strength. 
Go  and  expound  the  word  of  God  up  and  down  the  land." 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  would  like  to  do  it,  but  I  haven't  had 
much  encouragement  in  our  university  this  year.  We  have 
been  the  whole  year  trying  to  find  cmt  who  wrote  the  Penta- 
teuch." 

Think  of  a  class  that  spent  a  whole  college  year  trying  to 
find  out  who  wrote  the  Pentateuch ! 

\\'hat  did  that  poor  wounded  Jew  want  then?  He  wanted 
"  oil."  It  is  a  good  thing  to  carry  oil  with  you,  and  if  you 
find  a  wounded  man  pour  in  the  oil.  Pic  did  not  want  a 
lecture.  He  wanted  sympathy,  and  something  to  keep  him 
from  dying.  The  hot  rays  of  the  sun  were  pouring  in  upon  his 
wounds,  and  he  wanted  them  bound  up.  I  don't  know  where 
the  good  Samaritan  got  his  bandages.  Mcu  don't  usually 
carry  bandages  with  them.  I  think  he  must  l.ave  torn  up  some 
of  his  garments.  He  took  more  prejudice  out  of  that  Jew  in 
thirty  minutes  than  was  ever  taken  out  of  one  before  in  all  the 
history  of  the  world.  IIcl[^  iJic  fcUoi^'  li'lio  is  (Io':^'ii,  and  he  will 
believe  that  you  have  got  a  religion  that  is  worth  having. 

When  I  was  in  London  I  became  acquainted  with  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  men  I  ever  met.  He  was  a  young  man 
brought  up  in  the  best  society.  His  father  moved  in  what 
the  world  calls  the  upper  circle.  This  young  man  was 
well  acquainted  with  the  Royal  family,  but  when  he  was  con- 


RESCl'K    WORK     IX     LOXDOX. 


489 


vertctl  he  went  down  into  the  Seven  Dials,  a  locaht}'  full  of  dark 
alleys  and  the  lowest  dens  of  infani}-.  He  would  go  out  on 
those  dark  narrow  streets  until  midnight,  and  oftentimes  stay 
until  two  and  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  There  he  met 
ragged  boys  Avithout  homes,  lying  around  on  boxes,  barrels, 
and  stairways,  and  he  would  gather  them  together,  give  them 
a  supper,  good  shelter,  and  a  bed,  and  stay  there  and  sleep  with 
them.  He  left  his  beautiful  mansion,  and  seven  nights  in  a 
week  he  went  down  to  what  I  might  call  the  very  borders  of 
hell,  for  it  seemed  to  me  the  darkest  sight  I  ever  saw.  He  went 
not  only  one  or  two  weeks,  but  for  eight  or  nine  years,  spending 
every  night  among  the  most  abandoned  people,  trying  to  bring 
them  up  out  of  their  deep  degradation.  In  1872  he  had  eighty- 
five  boys  in  Canada,  all  of  whom  had  been  converted,  and  they 
were  all  doing  well.  When  I  was  in  London  the  last  time  it 
was  my  privilege  to  stop  at  his  house.  He  has  since  married, 
and  his  wife  told  me  that  he  gave  five  nights  out  of  the  week  to 
that  work  at  the  Seven  Dials.  He  put  up  a  building  costing 
about  $75,000.  Not  only  did  he  spend  his  money,  but  his  time. 
A  good  many  people  are  willing  to  help  the  Lord  in  a  patroniz- 
ing way,  by  giving  a  hundred  dollars  or  so  to  the  church,  and 
they  are  perfectly  willing  to  let  others  do  the  work  ;  but  this 
man  was  willing  to  go  right  down  among  the  lowest  of  the  low 
to  get  hold  of  them  ;  and  I  don't  know  a  man  so  blessed  as  he. 

I  had  another  friend  in  London  who  went  into  one  of  these 
"  closes  "  —  a  court  with  tenements  built  all  around  it  —  every 
Sunday  afternoon  to  preach.  There  were  two  infidels  living 
there,  and  one  of  them  would  fiddle  and  fiddle,  and  try  to  drown 
the  preacher's  voice.  Rut  my  friend  had  the  John  Bull  per- 
severance and  he  held  on.  Ry  and  by  the  cholera  and  the 
plague  struck  that  "  close."  and  one  of  these  two  infidels  was 
stricken  down  and  died.  ]\Iy  friend  went  in  and  provided  for 
the  man's  wife  and  children,  and  the  other  infidel  was  the  first 
convert  he  got.  His  talks  and  sermons  did  not  win  him.  but 
his  acts  of  kindness  did.  T  don't  believe  that  there  is  a  man  in 
all  the  world  who  cannot  be  reached  by  kindness. 
30 


490 


'iiiTcii   ON,"  Axi)  "(;kt  away 


Let  1110  go  hack  to  that  good  Samaritan.  \\  hat  did  lie  do 
for  the  poor  Jew?  He  hfted  him  on  his  own  beast,  and  he 
"  footed  "  it.  He  brought  him  to  tlie  inn  and  said,  "  I'll  pay  for 
all  he  needs."  The  next  morning  the  Jew  was  a  good  deal 
better.  Tlien  the  good  Saniariiaii  said  to  tlie  inn-keeper,  "  I 
don't  know  how  much  it  will  cost,  but  here  is  fourteen  pence. 
If  that's  not  enough  I  am  responsible.  I  will  repay.  Don't 
let  the  man  want  for  anything."  Don't  you  believe  that  Jew's 
prejudice  against  the  Samaritan  disappeared  for  time  and 
eternity?  'J'here's  not  a  philosophic  skeptic  can  make  you  or 
me  believe  that  he  was  iu)t  a  good  Samaritan.  It  is  a  good 
thing  to  meet  a  Samaritan,  —  a  good  one. 

I  was  in  New  Juigland  once  when  tlie  first  fall  of  snow  came, 
and  the  boys  were  out  with  tluir  sleds.  An  old  man  with  a 
dilapidated  old  pung  came  along.  1  le  looked  like  Santa  Clans, 
and  the  pung  was  full  of  ])<)ys  "  inside  and  out,"  as  the  Irishman 
would  say.  Ihe  boys  hung  on  to  the  runners,  and  they  tied 
the  ropes  on  until  there  was  a  long  string  of  sleds  l)ehind. 

"  Hitch  on,  hitch  on,  boys,"  said  the  oh\  man. 

But  one  little  fellow  stood  off.  I  le  could  not  hitch  on.  He 
looked  as  if  he  had  lost  all  his  friends.  Just  then  he  saw  an- 
other man  with  a  sleigh  who  lonkctl  like  a  good  Samaritan.  I 
shall  always  rememl)er  how  the  boy  watched  and  watched  to 
see  if  he  was  truly  a  good  Samaritan,  I  le  onuld  not  (|uite  tell. 
but  finalh-  he  hitched  on.  The  iii.ui  turned  round,  and 
shouted  : 

"  Get  aw  ay  I  ( iet  aw  ay  !  "  and  he  ga\  e  him  a  crack  with  his 
whip,  and  the  bo}-  began  td  cvy. 

I  said  to  mvself,  "  That's  about  the  way  it  is  in  life.  Some 
men  go  through  the  world  and  say  '  I  litch  on.  boys,  hitch  on  !  ' 
And  others,  *  Get  away  !  Get  away  !  '  " 

I  want  to  tell  you  of  the  first  good  Samaritan  i  ever  met. 
Ah,  it  brings  the  tears  to  my  eyes  every  time  1  think  of  it.  My 
father  died  before  I  can  remember.  There  was  a  large  family 
of  us.  The  little  twins  came  after  his  death,  —  nine  of  us  in  all. 
He  died  a  bankrupt,  and  the  creditors  came  in  and  took  every- 


AX    ANXIOUS    MOTHER. 


491 


thing  as  far  as  the  law  allowed.  We  had  a  hard  struggle. 
Thank  God  for  my  mother !  she  never  lost  hope.  She  told  me 
some  years  after  that  she  kept  bright  and  sunny  all  through  the 
day  and  cried  herself  to  sleep  at  night.  W'e  didn't  know  that, 
or  it  would  have  broken  our  hearts.  We  didn't  know  what 
trouble  our  mother  was  passing  through.  Thank  God !  He 
gave  her  a  rest  in  the  evening  of  life.  But  my  brother,  a  year 
and  a  lialf  older,  had  gone  to  Greenfield,  and  had  done 
"  chores,"  and  he  was  so  homesick  that  he  was  constantly  writ- 
ing for  me  to  come.  He  wanted  me  so  much  that  he  wrote  that 
he  would  come  home  for  me.  I  said  I  wouldn't  go.  But  one 
cold  day  in  November,  —  I  have  never  liked  November  since, 
—  a  day  of  leaden  skies  and  frozen  ground,  my  brother  came 
home,  and  said  he  had  found  a  good  place  for  me,  and  T  must 
go  down  and  spend  the  winter  in  Greenfield.  I  said  I  wouldn't 
go.     But  as  my  mother  and  I  sat  by  the  fire,  she  said  : 

"  Dwight,  I  think  you  will  have  to  go.  I  don't  think  I  shall 
be  able  to  keep  the  family  together  this  winter." 

\'ery  little  that  dear  mother  had  to  keep  us  on.  It  was  a 
dark  night  for  me.  But  mother's  wish  was  enough.  If  she 
said  I  ought  to  go  that  settled  it.  I  didn't  sleep  much  that 
night.  I  cried  a  great  deal.  The  next  morning  after  break- 
fast I  took  my  little  bundle  and  started.  I  was  about  ten  years 
old.  When  we  got  a  mile  away  from  the  house  we  both  sat 
down  and  cried.  T  thought  I  should  never  get  back  as  long 
as  I  lived.  We  footed  it  over  the  frozen  ground  thirteen  miles. 
I  have  never  been  so  far  from  home  since.  I  thought  I  should 
never  get  back  over  those  thirteen  miles.  ^ly  brother  intro- 
duced me  to  the  old  man  and  his  wife  with  whom  I  was  to  live. 
I  was  to  milk  the  cows,  go  on  errands,  and  go  to  school.  There 
was  not  a  child  there.  Th.at  afternoon  I  looked  the  old  man 
all  over,  and  I  saw  he  didn't  care  for  boys.  He  was  kinder  than 
I  thought  he  was.  but  he  could  not  sympathize  with  a  child. 
Afterwards  I  took  a  look  at  his  wife,  and  I  thought  she  was 
crosser  than  he  was.  T  was  homesick.  I  heard  a  man  say  the 
other  dav  that  the  onlv  home  he  cared  for  was  under  his  hat.     I 


492 


A    I'ERSUXAL    RKMIMSCENCE. 


pity  a  man  if  that  is  his  idea  of  life.  I  never  could  get  over 
being  homesick.     So  I  said  to  my  brother: 

"  Brother,  I'm  going  home." 

"  What  are  you  going  home  for?  " 

"  I'm  homesick." 

"You'll  get  over  it  if  you  stick  it  out." 

"  No,  I  won't.  I  don't  v.ant  to  get  over  it.  I  can't  stand  it. 
I  don't  like  those  people  here,  anyway." 

"  Dwight,  come  out  and  take  a  walk  with  me,"  my  brother 
said. 

He  took  me  out  near  the  courthouse  scjuarc,  led  me  to  some 
shop  windows,  and  showed  me  some  jackknives.  What's  the 
use  of  looking  at  jackknives  if  a  fellow  hasn't  any  money  to 
buy  them  with?  ]\Iy  eyes  were  full  of  tears.  I  didn't  care  for 
these  things. 

"  I'm  going  home,"  I  said. 

"  No,  it'll  be  dark,"  said  my  brother. 

"  Well,  I'll  start  to-morrow  morning  before  daylight.  I 
will  tell  the  old  man  to  get  some  one  else  to  milk  his  cows." 

All  at  once  my  brother,  who  was  looking  ahead,  brightened 
up,  and  said : 

"  There  comes  a  man  that  will  give  you  a  cent." 

"  How  do  you  know?  " 

"  Why,"  said  he,  "  he  gives  a  brand-new  cent  to  every  new 
boy  that  comes  to  town,  and  he  will  give  you  one." 

My  tears  went  away  as  I  saw  the  old  man  come  tottering 
along  the  sidewalk,  his  face  all  lighted  up.  He  reached  me 
just  in  the  nick  of  time  and,  looking  down,  he  said : 

"  Why,  this  is  a  new  boy,  isn't  it?  "  My  brother  straight- 
ened up  and  said  : 

"  Yes,  sir,  he  is  my  brother,  just  come  to  town." 

And  the  old  man  put  his  trembling  hand  on  my  head  and 
looked  down  upon  me.  He  got  hold  of  my  heart,  and  as  he 
held  my  hand  he  told  me  that  God  had  an  only  Son  in  Heaven, 
and  that  He  loved  this  world  so  much  He  died  for  it.  He  went 
on  talking  about  Heaven,  and  told  how  the  Father  loved  me, 


CHEERING    WORDS. 


495 


and  how  my  father  on  earth  was  hfted  up,  and  how  I  had  a 
vSaviour  up  there,  and  he  told  me  the  story  of  the  Cross  in  about 
five  minutes.  Then  he  put  his  hand  in  his  pocket,  and  he  gave 
me  a  brand-new  cent.  I  had  never  seen  such  a  bright  and 
l)eautiful  cent  l^eforc,  and  T  ahnost  thought  it  was  gold.  He 
put  it  in  my  hand,  and  I  never  felt  as  I  did  then  before  or  since. 
That  act  of  kindness  took  the  "  homesickness  "  out  of  me. 
I  felt  from  that  hour  that  I  had  a  friend.  I  thought  that  man 
was  God,  almost. 

I  don't  know  what  has  become  of  that  cent.  I  have  often 
wished  I  had  kept  it ;  but  I  can  feel  even  now  the  gentle  pres- 
sure of  those  trembling  hands  on  my  head.  I  never  walk  the 
streets  of  Greenfield  and  hear  a  child  crying  that  I  don't  in- 
stinctively put  my  hand  in  my  pocket  for  a  cent.  And  it  gives 
me  joy.  Oh,  when  you  give  to  the  poor  your  help,  your  sym- 
pathy, a  loving  word,  you  are  "  lending  to  the  Lord."  Let  us 
all  be  good  Samaritans.     Let  us  not  pass  by  on  the  other  side. 


CHAPTER    XXVL 

THE    INSPIRATION    OF    THE    BIBLE. 

People  Who  Pick  at  the  Bible  —  Critics  and  Cavillers  —  Jonah  and 
the  Whale  and  Some  Other  Doubted  Stories  —  The  Scotchman's 
Answer  to  a  Modern  Philosopher  —  The  Boy  Skeptic  Who  Wanted 
to  Argue  with  Mr.  Moody  —  Ministers  who  Delight  in  Picking  the 
Bible  to  Pieces  —  The  Only  Verse  He  Could  Quote  —  The  Bible 
Judged  without  Examination  —  The  Minister's  Cut  Bible  —  "I'm 
Going  to  Hold  On  to  the  Covers  '"  —  Cutting  Out  what  You  do 
not  Agree  With  —  The  Supernatural  Things  of  the  Bible  —  The 
Bible  in  Three  Hundred  and  iMlty  Different  Languages  —  Tele- 
graphing the  Entire  New  Testament  to  Chicago  —  Issuing  Fifteen 
Hundred  Bibles  an  Hour  —  Wonderful  Spread  of  the  Gospel  — 
Wonderful  and  Interesting  Instances  of  Fulfilled  Prophecy  — 
People  Who  Can't  Believe  the  Bible. 

I  DO  not  believe  we  are  (itialified  lo  work  for  God  until  we 
understand  a  i)art  of  the  Bible,  at  least.  I  have  yet  to  find 
a  successful  worker,  in  the  i)ul])it  or  out,  who  d()ul)ts  the 
truth  of  any  portion  of  the  Bible.  If  a  man  begins  to  pick  at 
the  word  of  God  it  don't  take  him  a  great  while  to  become  an 
unbeliever.  I  have  often  said  that  if  1  were  going  to  give  up 
any  portion  of  the  Bible  I  would  give  it  up  altogether.  What 
is  the  use  of  being  five  years  in  doing  what  you  can  just  as 
well  do  in  five  minutes?  If  a  man  or  woman  begins  to  pick  at 
the  Bible  it  won't  take  five  years  to  pick  it  to  pieces.  T  have 
known  of  ministers  who  began  to  criticize  the  l^iblc,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  they  were  out  of  the  pulpit  and  out  of  the 
ministry,  and  had  made  shipwreck  of  their  faith.  If  1  under- 
stand the  r.ible.  one  portion  of  it  comes  to  mc  with  tlu'  same 
authority  that  any  other  portion  does.  Some  people  say  they 
believe  in  the  New  Testament,  but  not  in  the  Old  Testament ; 
that  there  are  things  in  the  Old  Testament  they  cannot  believe, 

(496) 


BKLlK\IN(i    AS    CHRIST    BELIEVED. 


497 


Do  you  know  that  the  very  thinj^^s  people  cavil  about  to-day  are 
the  thinj^s  that  Christ  set  His  seal  to  when  here  upon  earth? 
Some  say,  "  I  don't  believe  in  Xoah  and  iiis  ark  ;  1  suppose  that 
old  story  was  exploded  long  ago."  When  I  give  up  that  story 
I  give  up  the  sermon  on  the  Mount.  When  a  servant  gets  to 
be  above  his  master  he  liad  l)etter  go  and  serve  someone  else. 
The  Saviour  believed  it  :  "  But  as  the  days  of  Xoe  were,  so  shall 
also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.'" 

Men  say  to  me  :  "  Mr.  Moody,  you  don't  really  believe  the 
story  of  Sodom  and  Clomorrah,  do  you?"  Certainly  I  do; 
Christ  connected  that  with  His  revelation  :  "  Likewise  also  as 
it  was  in  the  days  of  Lot ;  they  did  cat.  they  drank,  they  bought, 
they  sold,  they  planted,  they  builded  ;  but  the  same  day  that 
Lot  went  out  of  Sodom  it  rained  fire  and  brimstone  from 
heaven,  and  destroyed  tliem  all.  Even  thus  shall  it  be  in  the 
day  when  the  Son  of  man  is  revealed." 

Men  say,  "  I  don't  believe  the  story  of  Moses  lifting  up  a 
brazen  serpent  on  a  pole,  and  the  Israelites  being  healed  when 
they  looked  at  it,  do  you  ?  "  A'^es  ;  He  connected  that  with  His 
own  cross:  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness, 
even  so  must  the  Son  of  man  l)e  lifted  up." 

"  But  you  don't  believe  that  the  children  of  Israel  were  fed 
in  the  wilderness  for  fort)-  years  ;  that  (iod  really  sent  bread 
out  of  heaven  for  them  to  eat  ?  "  Certainly  I  do,  as  much  as  I 
believe  the  si.xth  cha])ter  of  John,  where  Christ  says:  "  Your 
fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the  wilderness." 

"  You  don't  believe  that  story  of  the  widow  of  Sarepta  and 
the  cruise  of  oil?  "  Yes,  I  do;  Christ  taught  it:  "  But  unto 
none  ot  them  was  Elias  sent,  save  unto  Sarepta,  a  city  of  Sidon, 
imto  a  woman  that  was  a  widow." 

'  But  you  don't  believe  that  Xaaman  went  into  the  Jordan 
and  was  healed  of  leprosy  ?  "  Certainly  ;  Christ  believed  it  and 
referred  to  Xaaman  :  "  .\nd  man}'  lepers  were  in  Israel  in  the 
time  of  Eliseus  the  prophet ;  and  none  of  them  was  cleansed, 
saving  Xaaman  the  Syrian." 

"  But  vou  certainlv  don't  believe  in  the  storv  of  |onah  and 


498 


BIBLE    STORIES    AND    BIBLE    TRUTHS. 


the  whale?  "  "  Yes,  I  beheve  tliat  too."  When  I  give  that  up 
I  am  going  to  give  up  the  doctrine  of  the  re.surrection  of  the 
dead.  As  you  get  along  in  life  and  i)erhaps  have  as  many 
friends  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  as  you  have  on  this  side, 
you  will  get  about  as  much  comfort  out  of  the  story  of  Jonah 
as  any  other  story  in  the  liible.  J\Iay  (lod  help  us  to  hold  on 
to  it!  Jesus  connected  that  story  with  His  own  resurrection. 
In  Matthew  they  said  thrice,  "  Show  us  a  sign  "  .And  He  said 
that  the  only  sign  would  be  the  story  of  Jonah  in  the  whale's 
bell}-.  Christ  believed  that  Jonah  went  into  the  whale's  belly, 
and  are  you  going  to  be  His  disciple  and  be  wiser  than  He? 
Alen  say,  "  It  is  a  physical  impossibility  for  a  whale  to  swallow 
a  man."  The  Bible  says,  "  God  prepared  a  great  fish."  That 
is  enough.  If  God  created  a  whale,  couldn't  He  create  a  fish 
large  enough  to  swallow  a  man  ?  There  is  no  trouble  when  you 
bring  God  in  to  prepare  the  lish.  God  could  j^repare  a  fish 
large  enough  to  swallow  the  whole  world  —  take  us  all  in  at 
one  swallow.  Any  trouble  there?  I  don't  see  any.  The  idea 
that  God  couldn't  make  a  whale  with  a  mouth  large  enough  to 
swallow  Jonah  ;  I  never  heard  of  such  an  absurdity. 

A  friend  of  mine  from  Scotland  was  returning  home  on  a 
steamer,  and  a  couple  of  modern  philosophers  stood  on  the 
deck  talking  together,  and  the  vScotchman  stood  right  near 
tliem  where  he  couldn't  help  hearing  what  they  said.  One  of 
them  said  :  ''  You  know  the  r>ible  has  got  to  go  down  :  it  is 
only  a  question  of  time  when  it  will  be  abandoned  altogether. 
It  can't  stand  in  the  light  of  science."  "  Yes,"  said  the  other, 
"  it  has  got  to  go  down."  Then  the  oilier  said  :  "  Did  you 
ever  hear  anything  so  absurd  as  the  story  that  P.aalam's  ass 
spoke?  Now,  I  am  a  scientific  man,  and  T  have  taken  pains 
to  examine  the  mouth  of  an  ass.  and  it  is  so  formed  that  it 
couldn't  s])eak."  My  Scotch  friend  stood  it  just  as  long  as  he 
could,  and  finally  said,  "  Ah,  man,  you  make  the  ass  and  I  will 
make  him  speak."  The  idea  that  the  God  who  made  the  ass 
could  not  make  him  speak!  And  yet  we  hear  such  stuff  right 
in  New  Engfland ! 


THK    MAN    WHO    WANTED    A    NEW    BIBLE. 


499 


A  friend  once  said  to  me : 

"  Air.  Aioody,  1  wish  you  would  go  and  talk  to  that  young 
man."  lie  was  a  mere  boy,  and  warn  i  ijcgan  to  taik  with 
him  he  wanted  to  have  an  argument,  but  I  wouldn't  argue  with 
him.     I  said : 

"  You  are  a  skeptic  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  am." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  a  skeptic?  " 

"  A  number  of  years." 

"  Now,"  I  said,  "  may  I  ask  you  how  old  you  are  ?  " 

"  Fourteen." 

"  Would  you  tell  me  what  a  skeptic  is  ?  " 

To  save  his  life  he  couldn't  tell ;  he  had  heard  some  infidels 
talk  about  being  skeptics,  and  he  thought  he  would  be  one. 
Most  men  who  are  talking  against  the  Bible  don't  know  any 
more  about  it  than  that  boy  did  about  skepticism.  They  hear 
some  of  the  sentiments  of  infidels,  and  they  go  about  reporting 
them,  and  don't  know  a  thing  about  it. 

A  man  in  Montreal  was  once  talking  to  me,  and  said  : 

"  The  fact  is,  Mr.  Moody,  we  have  got  to  have  a  new  Bible. 
This  old  Bible  was  well  enough  for  the  dark  ages,  but  it  won't 
do  for  the  nineteenth  century." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  before  you  give  up  the  Bible  we  have,  let 
us  see  how  much  you  know  about  it ;  which  is  the  first  book  in 
the  Bible,  Genesis  or  Revelation?  " 

"  Well,  I  can't  tell  that." 

He  couldn't  answer  that  (luestion,  but  he  had  "  got  to  have 
a  new  Bible."  I  want  to  tell  you  something :  The  men  whom 
you  hear  talking  against  the  Bible  don't  look  inside  of  it  once 
in  six  months  ;  they  know  nothing  about  it.  I  contend  that 
there  is  no  book  in  the  wide  world  that  is  so  misjudged  as  the 
Bible. 

Some  ministers  seem  to  derive  a  good  deal  of  pleasure  in 
going  into  the  pulpit  and  picking  the  Bible  to  pieces.  If  you 
have  such  a  minister  I  advise  you  either  to  get  him  out  of  the 
church  or  go  out  yourself.     I  wouldn't  stay  in  a  church  that 


500  HOLDIXCi    OX    TO    THK    CO\ERS. 

had  a  man  in  the  pulpit  who  picked  the  Word  of  God  to  pieces, 
not  by  a  good  deal,  i  heard  of  a  young  man  who  called  on  his 
pastor,  and  said  he  wanted  to  show  him  the  minister's  Ihhle. 

"  What  makes  you  call  it  my  iiible?  "  said  the  minister. 

'•  Well,"  said  the  young  man,  •'  I  have  sat  under  your 
preaching  for  five  years,  and  when  you  si)oke  of  an\  thing  in  the 
Bible  as  not  being  authentic.  I  cut  it  out." 

And  he  had  cut  out  all  of  the  book  of  Job,  all  of  Revelations, 
and  the  Songs  of  Solomon.  About  a  third  of  the  liible  was 
gone.     The  minister  said  : 

"  Let  me  have  that  Bible."  He  didn't  want  his  people  to 
see  the  book  in  that  condition,      liut  the  man  said: 

"  nil.  no!  1  have  got  the  covers  and  T  am  going  to  hold 
on  to  them." 

Tf  ministers  have  a  right  to  cut  out  what  they  don't  like, 
and  I  have  a  right  to  cut  out  what  I  don't  like,  and  if  everybody 
else  should  cut  out  what  they  don't  like,  we  should  have  a 
wonderful  Bible!  The  adulterer  reads  in  the  Bible  that  no 
adulterer  shall  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  he  says,  "  Cut 
it  out !  "  The  drunkard  reads  that  no  drunkard  shall  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  he  says,  "  I  don't'want  that,"  and  he 
cuts  it  out.  The  thief  reads.  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal,"  and  he 
says,  "  T  don't  want  that,"  and  he  cuts  it  out. 

My  dear  friends,  take  the  w  hole  book,  not  a  part  of  it !  Is 
all  of  it  inspired  ?  No,  T  don't  say  that  all  of  it  is  inspired.  All 
Scripture  is  given  by  ins])iration,  but  it  is  not  all  inspired. 
When  the  devil  told  a  lie  in  ImKu,  he  wasn't  inspired  to  tell  a 
lie.  but  some  one  was  inspired  to  write  about  it.  When  the 
devil  told  the  lie  about  job  he  wasn't  insjiired  to  speak,  but 
some  one  was  inspired  to  record  it.  \\  hen  .Miab  got  those  four 
hundred  pro])hets  together  to  speak  their  prophecy,  they  were 
not  inspired  to  speak  a  lie,  but  somebody  was  inspired  to  write 
about  it. 

Another  class  says,  "  Well,  Mr.  Moody,  you  know  1  be- 
lieve all  that  corresponds  with  reason  ;  1  believe  the  natural 
things  of  the  Bible,  but  I  don't  believe  the  supernatural  things." 


A    SlM'F.RXATrkAL    kKC-()KL). 


501 


There  isn't  any  part  of  the  Bible  that  doesn't  teach  supernatural 
things.  If  God  is  a  supernatural  being  He  must  have  a  super- 
natural book  to  tell  about  Himself.  We  read  in  Genesis  that 
God  talked  with  Abraham.  Now,  if  that  did  not  take  place, 
then  the  man  who  wrote  Genesis  knew  that  he  was  writing  a 
lie,  and  out  goes  Genesis.  Take  Exodus,  and  there  we  find 
the  story  of  the  ten  plagues,  the  children  of  Israel  passing 
through  the  Red  Sea.  water  flowing  out  of  a  rock  ;  and  if  those 
things  did  not  take  place,  one  after  another,  the  man  who  wrote 
Exodus  knew  that  He  was  writing  a  lie.  Read  Numbers,  and 
there  is  Moses  making  a  brazen  serpent,  and  putting  it  up  on  a 
pole,  and  the  people  bitten  of  fiery  serpents  look  upon  it  and 
are  healed.  If  that  didn't  take  place  then  the  man  that  wrote 
Numbers  knew  that  he  was  writing  a  deliberate  lie,  so  out  goes 
Numbers.  You  can  go  through  the  wdiole  Bible,  and  you  will 
find  supernatural  things  all  through  it.  The  last  portion  of  the 
Bible  that  a  man  gives  up  is  the  four  Gospels,  and  a  man  that 
does  not  believe  in  the  supernatural  things  recorded  in  them 
has  got  to  give  the  Bible  up  altogether.  There  was  hardly  a 
day  in  the  life  of  Christ  that  He  did  not  do  something  super- 
natural. Five  hundred  years  before  He  was  born,  an  angel 
told  Daniel  that  He  was  to  come.  An  angel  told  Zacharias 
that  he  was  to  be  the  father  of  the  forerunner  of  Christ.  An 
angel  told  the  X'irgin  that  she  was  to  be  the  mother  of  Christ. 
Angels  came  to  the  shepherds  to  announce  His  coming ;  the 
Holy  Spirit  came  upon  Simeon  so  that  he  recognized  Him  in 
the  temple.  From  the  beginning  of  Christ's  ministry,  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  descended  upon  Hini  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  to 
the  time  when  His  resurrection  body  passed  up  through  the 
clouds  into  heaven,  something  supernatural  was  taking  place. 
He  spoke  to  the  sea  in  a  tempest,  and  the  sea  recognized  Him 
and  obeyed  His  voice.  He  spoke  to  the  barren  fig  tree,  and 
the  tree  withered  away.  He  spoke  to  leprosy,  and  leprosy 
obeyed  Him.  He  spoke  to  death,  and  death  fled  before  Him. 
When  He  died  the  sun  refused  to  look  upon  that  scene  ;  this 
old  world  recognized  Him,  and  the  earth  reeled  and  rocked  like 


502 


THE    NEW    VERIFIES    THE    OLD. 


a  drunken  man.  The  earth  knew  Him.  That  was  super- 
natural And  when  He  burst  asunder  the  bands  of  death  and 
came  out  of  Joseph's  sepulchre  that  was  supernatural. 

The  great  Welch  preacher,  Christmas  Evans,  said  "  Many 
reformations  die  with  the  reformer,  but  this  reformer  ever 
liveth  to  carry  on  His  reformation."  Thank  God,  he  is  not 
dead !  I  know  a  good  many  people  arc  trying  to  make  us 
think  that  Jesus  is  in  Joseph's  sepulchre  yet!  They  want  us 
to  throw  away  the  supernatural  things  of  the  Bible !  My  dear 
friends,  if  you  throw  away  the  supernatural  things,  you  have 
got  to  throw  away  the  whole  Biljle.  I  thank  God  that  our 
Christ  is  a  supernatural  Christ,  and  that  the  Bible  is  a  super- 
natural Book ;  and  I  thank  God  that  I  live  in  a  country  where 
it  is  so  free  that  all  men  can  read  it. 

There  is  another  thought  I  want  to  call  your  attention  to : 
People  say  they  believe  the  New  Testament,  but  they  do  not 
believe  the  Old.  Do  you  know  that  there  are  only  eighty-nine 
chapters  in  the  four  Gospels,  and  there  are  one  hundred  and 
forty  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament  in  them?  There  are 
sixty-five  quotations  in  Matthew  alone  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. How  are  you  going  to  believe  in  the  New  Testament 
and  not  believe  in  the  Old  ?  There  are  twenty-five  quotations 
from  the  Old  Testament  in  Luke  alone  ;  in  the  two  short  epistles 
of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians  there  are  sixty-five  quotations ;  in 
Colossians  there  are  sixteen  quotations ;  in  Hebrews  there  are 
eighty-five  quotations  —  not  just  isolated  passages,  but  great 
blocks  of  quotations;  in  Revelations  alone,  the  book  upon 
which  the  skeptics  cast  so  much  discredit,  there  are  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  quotations ;  and  yet,  people  say,  "  I  believe  the 
New  Testament,  but  I  won't  believe  the  Old." 

Christ  said  of  the  law,  "  Till  heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot 
or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from  the  law,  till  all  be  ful- 
filled." Now,  when  Christ  said  that,  the  Old  Testament  was 
all  they  had  ;  there  was  no  New  Testament.  Then  Christ  says  : 
"  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not 
pass  away."     When  Christ  said  that,  there  were  no  reporters 


WORDS    THAT    WILL    NEVER    DIE.  cq^ 

following  Him  around  to  take  down  every  word  He  said  ;  there 
were  no  printing-presses  or  publishers  to  bring  out  volumes 
of  His  sermons  every  year.  It  is  said  that  Spurgeon  had 
manuscripts  of  all  the  sermons  he  ever  preached  in  London  ; 
but  when  Christ  was  on  earth,  there  was  no  one  taking  down 
His  sermons  and  putting  them  away  in  manuscripts ;  and  yet 
He  says :  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  Mv  words 
shall  not  pass  away."  He  was  looked  down  upon  bv  the 
church  of  that  time  as  the  vilest  of  imposters ;  all  the  religious 
teachers  sneered  at  Him.  His  followers  were  onlv  a  few  de- 
spised women  of  Galilee,  and  a  few  unlettered  fishermen  for 
disciples.  I  can  imagine  a  modern  free-thinker  standing  by 
and  hearing  that  remark,  and  saying,  with  a  scornful  curl  of  his 
lip  :  "  Hear  the  Jewish  peasant  talk  !  Did  you  ever  hear  such 
conceit  ?  '  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  His  words 
shall  not  pass  away.'  " 

My  friends,  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  have  passed 
away  since  those  words  were  spoken,  but  have  His  words 
passed  away?  They  have  been  put  into  three  hundred  and 
fifty  different  languages,  and  they  have  gone  to  the  farthest 
corners  of  the  earth  !  There  is  not  a  nation  on  the  globe  to 
which  missionaries  have  not  carried  the  Word  of  God,  and  they 
have  made  the  greatest  sacrifices  and  gone  through  the  severest 
liardships  in  order  that  they  might  do  so.  Suppose  that  when 
Christ  taught  on  earth,  some  prophet  had  prophesied  that  a 
continent  would  be  found  sixteen  hundred  years  after  Jesus 
Christ  left  this  world,  and  that  somebody  would  take  the 
lightning  and  flash  His  words  right  across  that  continent, 
would  anybody  have  believed  it  ?  And  yet  that  has  been  done 
in  your  day  and  mine.  When  the  revised  version  of  the  New 
Testament  was  published  an  enterprising  concern  set  ninety 
operators  at  work  on  private  wires  and  telegraphed  the  whole 
New  Testament  from  New  York  to  a  Chicago  newspaper,  and 
it  all  appeared  in  the  paper  the  next  morning ;  and  natives  and 
foreigners.  Christians  and  infidels,  were  reading  it.  This 
happened  nearly  nineteen  hundred  years  after  Christ  left  the 


504 


INCRHASIXG    DKMAND    PT)R    IMHLKS. 


world,  and  yet  we  arc  saying  that  the  Word  of  Ciod  is  getting 
out  of  date.  What  you  and  1  want  is  to  know  how  to  handle  it. 
Do  )ou  know  that  the  sun  shines  to-day  on  more  Bibles 
than  it  has  ever  shone  on  before.  1  was  in  New  York  a  little 
while  ago,  and  an  editor  of  one  of  the  leading  daily  papers 
there  wanted  to  know  if  there  was  any  demand  for  Bibles  now- 
a-days  (1899).  He  said  the  people  had  given  up  the  Bible  and 
gone  to  reading  newspapers.  Well,  there  have  been  more 
Bibles  sold  in  the  last  three  years  than  at  any  other  time.  There 
never  has  been  such  a  demand  for  Bibles.  Bibles  that  I  used 
to  pay  eight  and  nine  dollars  for  can  now  be  bought  for  four 
and  five,  and  you  can  buy  a  good  one  for  seventy  cents.  I  don't 
know  how  they  do  it,  but  they  do.  Do  you  know  that  the 
American  Bible  Society  and  the  liritish  and  I'"oreign  Bible  So- 
ciety issue  1,500  Pdbles  every  hour?  Thank  (lod,  the  liibles 
are  not  going  out ;  they  are  just  coming  in  !  More  Bibles  have 
been  printed  in  the  last  few  years  than  in  the  past  1800  years. 
"  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  My  words  shall  not 
pass  away."  Are  His  words  passing  away?  No.  and  tliank 
God  they  are  not  going  to  pass  away.  "S'ou  and  I  will  pass 
away,  and  the  world  will  pass  away,  but  His  words  shall  live 
and  endure.* 


*  Mr.  Moody's  statement  that  the  Ameiicai)  and  Hiilisli  Uible  .Societies 
issue  "1,500  Bibles  every  hour,"  needs  e.vplanation.  Probably  he  meant  to 
include  Bibles  and  integral  books  of  the  Bible  circulated  (as  well  as  printed)  in 
all  lands.  Including  its  issues  in  foreign  lands,  tiie  American  Bible  Society  in 
one  year  (1S98-9)  put  into  circulation  1,380,892  "  Bibles,  and  Testaments  and 
integral  Portions  of  the  Bible,"  and  in  the  same  year  the  Britisli  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  issued  4,479,439  volumes  of  Scripture;  a  total  of  5,860,331.  How 
manythis  is  for  each  hour  depends  on  the  number  of  hours  in  a  year  on  which 
the  computation  is  made.  Probably  Mr.  Moody  would  say  that  he  meant  busi- 
ness hours.  Now,  allowing  310  working  days  a  year,  of  eight  hours  each,  we 
have  2.4.80  hours,  thus  giving  on  this  basis  a  total  output  of  about  2,363  volumes 
for  each  working  hour;  or  nearly  670  for  eacli  of  the  twenty-four  hours  of  the 
day  throughout  the  entire  year,  including  Sundays  and  holidays.  These 
figures  show  the  annual  output  of  Bilile  societies  alone.  In  addition  to  them 
are  many  large  publishing  houses  in  the  United  States  and  England  whose 
annual  sales  of  Bibles  aggregate  hundreds  of  thousands,  so  that  the  a(5tual 
number  of  Bibles,  and  integral  books  of  the  Bible,  sold  each  year,  is  nnirh 
greater  than  the  figures  above  tpiotcd. 

It  is  stated  on  uiupieslioncd  authority  that  the  Bible  Societies  alone  have 


rULFII.LKI)    PROPHECIES.  5O5 

I  sav.  take  the  whole  Ilible.  A  large  part  of  the  Bible  was 
written  by  prophets,  but  you  seldom  hear  a  sermon  on  proph- 
ecy, fulfilled  or  unfulfilled.  Do  you  know  that  there  are 
over  two  hundred  prophecies  that  have  been  remarkably  and 
literally  fulfilled  in  regard  to  Jesus  Christ  ?  There  was  nothing 
that  happened  to  Jesus  Christ  when  He  was  here  on  this  earth 
that  was  not  prophesied  of  Him.  We  read  in  the  second 
chapter  of  Luke  that  Joseph  and  Mary  went  up  to  Bethlehem 
to  be  taxed.  When  Augustus  Caesar  sent  out  his  decree  that 
all  the  world  should  be  taxed,  that  decree  brought  the  parents 
of  the  child  Jesus  up  to  Bethlehem,  where  it  had  been  prophe- 
sied that  He  should  be  born.  Tt  was  prophesied  that  He  should 
be  spit  upon.  Did  they  not  spit  upon  Him  ?  Isaiah  said  that 
they  should  smite  Him.  Did  they  not  smite  Him?  Take 
those  two  hundred  prophecies,  and  look  them  over  carefully, 
and  you  will  find  that  every  one  of  them  has  been  literally  ful- 
filled.    Yet,  people  say  they  can't  believe  the  Bible ! 

There  are  a  great  many  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament 
that  history  proves  to  have  been  literally  fulfilled ;  for  instance, 
the  prophecies  concerning  Ninevah,  Babylon.  Egypt,  and  Jeru- 
salem. Infidels  may  talk  as  much  as  they  like,  but  I  don't 
know  of  any  portion  of  Scripture  that  will  stop  their  mouths 
as  quickly  as  fulfilled  prophecy.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  was 
taught  to  believe  that  all  the  land  west  of  the  Mississippi  River 
was  a  vast  and  barren  desert  of  sand.  But,  later,  when  they 
had  taken  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars  in  silver  out  of  that 
desert,  people  began  to  rub  their  eyes  and  wake  up  to  the  fact 
that  the  land  was  worth  something ;  and  that  territory  was 
found  to  be,  at  that  time,  the  richest  in  this  country.  There  arc 
some  portions  of  the  Bible  that  have  never  been  explored,  yet 
there  is  some  of  the  purest  gold  of  heaven  there.  If  you  study 
the  Bible  you  will  find  it  the  most  interesting  book  in  all  the 
world. 


distributed,  since  1804,  in  round  figures,  the  enormous  number  of  280,000,000 
of  Bibles,  Testaments,  and  Portions ;  while  ten  years  ago  the  estimate  was 
214,000,000.  —  [Ed. 


-o6  ON    THE    SITE    OF    BABYLON. 

Here  are  a  few  passages  about  those  great  cities  that  were 
flourishing  at  the  time  the  prophets  prophesied : 

Isaiah  13.  19:  "  And  Babylon,  the  glory  of  kingdoms,  the  beauty 
of  the  Chaldees'  excellency,  shall  be  as  when  God  overthrew  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah. 

"  It  shall  never  be  inhabited,  neither  shall  it  be  dwelt  in  from 
generation  to  generation:  neither  shall  the  Arabian  pitch  tent  there; 
neither  shall  the  shepherds  make  their  fold  there. 

■'  But  wild  beasts  of  the  desert  shall  lie  there;  and  their  houses  shall 
be  full  of  doleful  creatures;  and  owls  shall  dwell  there,  and  satyrs  shall 
dance  there. 

"  And  the  wild  beasts  of  the  islands  shall  cry  in  their  desolate 
houses,  and  dragons  in  their  pleasant  palaces:  and  her  time  is  near  to 
come,  and  her  days  shall  not  be  prolonged." 

Now,  mark  the  fulfillment.  A  friend  going  through  the 
valley  of  Euphrates  with  a  dragoman  tried  to  induce  him  to 
pitch  his  tent  near  Babylon,  but  he  couldn't  get  that  dragoman 
to  pitch  his  tent  anywhere  near  the  ruins.  The  prophet  said 
that  Arabs  wouldn't  pitch  their  tent  there ;  no  shepherd  would 
dwell  there.  The  prophecy  has  been  literally  carried  out.  as 
you  will  find  to-day  in  traveling  through  that  country. 

Nahum  3.  6-7:  "And  I  will  cast  abominable  filth  upon  thee,  and 
make  thee  vile,  and  will  set  thee  as  a  gazingstock. 

"  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that  all  they  that  look  upon  thee  shall 
flee  from  thee,  and  say,  Nineveh  is  laid  waste:  who  will  bemoan  her? 
whence  shall  I  seek  comforters  for  thee?  " 

For  2,500  years  Nineveh  was  buried,  covered  up.  Now, 
we  have  gone  down  into  the  ruins  and  are  digging  up  the  re- 
mains of  that  old  city  and  bringing  them  to  Constantinople  and 
Paris  and  London,  and  people  from  all  parts  of  the  world  gaze 
at  these  fragments  of  the  ruins  of  Nineveh.  "  I  will  make 
thee  a  gazingstock  of  nations."  That  prophecy  has  been 
literally  fulfilled,  and  yet  it  was  uttered  that  Nineveh  was  a 
great  and  mighty  city. 

A  gentleman  who  went  around  the  world  a  few  years  ago 
told  me  that  when  he  came  to  the  place  where  old  Tyre  used  to 
stand,  he  took  oiU  his  r.il)le  and  turned  to  Ezekiel  26.  3.  As 
he  stood  among  the  ruins  that  night  on  the  very  spot  where  the 
citv  once  stood,  he  read  : 


WIIKAT    GROWING    ON    MOUNT    ZION.  507 

"Therefore  saith  tlic  Lord  God;  Behold.  I  am  against  thee, 
O  Tyrus,  and  will  cause  many  nations  to  come  up  against  thee,  as  the 
sea  causeth  his  waves  to  come  up. 

"  And  they  shall  destroy  the  walls  of  Tyrus,  and  break  down  her 
towers:     I  will  also  scrape  her  dust  from  her,  and  make  her  like  the  top 

of  a  rock. 

"  It  shall  be  a  place  for  the  spreading  of  nets  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea:  for  I  have  spoken  it,  saith  the  Lord  God:  and  it  shall  become 
a  spoil   to  the  nations." 

He  said  the  sun  was  going  down,  and  the  fishermen  were 
bringing  their  nets  up  out  of  the  sea  and  spreading  them  on  the 
bare  rock  where  once  stood  that  great  city,  and  the  prophecy 
was  Uterally  fulfilled. 

Take  the  prophecy  concerning  Jerusalem,  in  the  nineteenth 
chapter  of  Luke : 

"  And  when  He  was  come  near.  He  beheld  the  city,  and  wept  over 
it,  saying,  If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  at  least  in  this  thy  day,  tiic 
things  which  belong  unto  thy  peace!  but  now  they  are  hid  from  thine 
eyes.  For  the  days  shall  come  upon  thee,  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast 
a  trench  about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep  thee  in  on  every 
side." 

Didn't  Titus  do  that?  Didn't  the  Roman  Emperor  do  that 
very  thing? 

"  And  shall  lay  thee  even  with  the  ground,  and  thy  children  within 
thee;  and  they  shall  not  leave  in  thee  one  stone  upon  another." 

I  do  not  know  when  I  was  ever  more  impressed  than  when 
I  was  in  Jerusalem,  as  I  recalled  the  prophecy,  "  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  I  will  plow  Zion  like  a  field."  I  plucked  the  wheat  right 
there  on  Mount  Zion  ;  it  had  been  plowed  and  sowed  just  as  it 
was  prophesied  that  it  would  he  plowed  hundreds  of  years 
before. 

As  I  went  through  Eg}'pt  I  saw  every  day  the  fulfillment  of 
prophecy : 

Ezekiel  29.  15:  "  it  shall  be  the  basest  of  the  kingdoms;  neither 
shall  it  exalt  itself  any  more  above  the  nations:  for  I  will  diminish 
them,  that  they  shall  no  more  rule  over  the  nations." 

That  was  prophesied  when  Egypt  was  a  great  and  mighty 
nation.     Is  there  a  baser  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth  to-day  ? 
31 


ro8  'I'JII'    WORTH    OF    A    BIBLK    PROMISE. 

It  has  been  trying  to  get  up  in  your  day  and  mine ;  but  the 
moment  it  tries  to  lift  its  head  up,  all  the  nations  jump  upon  it 
to  keep  it  down. 

Yet,  some  people  say  they  can't  believe  the  Bible  !  That  is 
because  they  don't  know  anything  about  it.  they  do  not  study  it. 

It  is  easy  for  some  to  laugh  at  the  Hible  :  but  the  hour  is 
coming  when  one  promise  in  that  old  P)Ook  will  be  worth  more 
than  ten  thousand  ^\•orlds  like  this.  Tt  is  easy  for  some  to 
sneer  at  it,  but  the  hour  is  coming  when  they  will  need  it.  In 
prosperity  and  health  it  is  easy  to  laugh  and  sneer,  and  get 
infidels  to  scoff  at  God  ;  but  the  hour  is  coming,  and  that 
quickly,  when  everyone  will  want  a  Saviour. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

TH]<:   BIBLE  AND   HOW  TO   STUDY   IT 

Different  Ways  of  Studying  the  Bible  —  Digging  Deep  for  Heavenly 
Truths  —  An  Infidel's  Challenge  to  Mr.  Moody  —  Using  a  Con- 
cordance —  The  Man  Who  Wanted  a  Book  on  Assurance  —  Study- 
ing the  Bible  with  a  Telescope  —  Characteristics  of  the  Gospels  — 
How  I\Ir.  Moody  Held  the  Attention  of  the  Northfield  Students  — 
Studying  the  Bible  with  a  Microscope  —  A  Real  and  an  Artificial 
Bee  —  Preachers  with  Flippant  Tongues  —  Mr.  Moody's  Inter- 
leaved Bible  —  Marking  the  Bible  —  ^Ir.  Moody's  Recollections 
of  the  Family  Bible  —  Looking  to  See  when  Dwight  was  Born  — 
Mr.  Moody's  Embarrassment  in  a  Boston  Sunday-school  Class  — 
"  Greeney  From  the  Country  "  • —  The  Importance  of  Knowing 
How  to  Handle  the  Bible. 

IT  IS  very  diffictilt  for  one  person  to  tell  others  how  to 
study,  or  how  to  use  their  minds,  for  there  are  no  two 
minds  that  work  exactly  in  the  same  groove.  God  made 
great  varietv  in  the  luunan  race;  no  two  persons  look  exactly 
alike.  You  very  often  hear  people  say  of  twins,  "  Those  two 
boys  look  as  near  alike  as  two  peas;  "  but  the  mother  knows 
them.  It  is  a  good  thing  to  have  varict}'  in  this  world.  I  am 
glad  that  there  is  no  other  man  in  the  world  like  me;  T  don't 
want  to  see  another  one  like  me.  You  can  make  up  your 
mind  that  there  is  no  other  person  just  like  you. 

T  will  give  some  hints  on  the  study  of  the  lUble  which  per- 
haps will  be  helpful  to  you.  I  consider  it  a  great  calamity  that 
anyone  who  has  been  a  child  of  (Sod  a  great  many  years  can- 
not get  some  help  from  that  book  for  himself.  When  my 
youngest  boy  was  able  to  carry  his  sjioon  to  his  m<^iuh  without 
spilling  the  contents  the  other  children  clapped  their  hands  and 
shouted,  "  Look,  papa,  Paul  can  feed  himself."     T  think  it  is 

(509) 


^lo  now  TO  sTunv  the  bible. 

a  j^reat  pity  if  a  child  of  God  is  not  able  to  feed  himself.  I 
know  people  forty  years  old  who  never  get  anything  out  of  the 
Bible  except  what  they  get  on  Sunday.  If  the  minister  gives 
them  geology,  and  botany,  and  metaphysics,  they  liave  to  go 
hungry;  but  if  he  gives  them  the  Word  of  God  they  are  fed. 
What  we  want  is  to  know  how  to  study  the  Word  of  God  and 
feed  ourselves. 

Xow  there  are  different  ways  of  studying  the  T.ihlc.  I  re- 
ceived from  George  Miiller  the  idea  of  taking  one  book  of  the 
Uible  at  a  time;  I  found  that  plan  was  very  helpful  to  me.  If 
I  hadn't  nnich  time  I  would  take  a  short  Epistle,  or  one  of  the 
minor  prophets,  and  read  it  at  one  sitting. 

Another  good  way  is  to  take  one  of  the  longer  books;  take 
Isaiah,  or  Jeremiah,  and  read  it  through.  If  my  wife  wrote  me 
a  letter  eight  pages  long  and  I  should  read  one  i)age  a  day  I 
should  forget  what  was  on  the  first  page  l^efore  I  got  to  the 
eighth.  I  sometimes  think  it  is  a  calamity  that  the  books  of 
the  Bible  have  been  divided  uj)  into  chapters  and  verses. 
People  read  a  cha])ter  and  the)-  think  that  is  the  end  of  llie 
subject,  when  in  reality  they  have  just  touched  upon  it;  it  may 
be  a  week  before  you  come  back  to  reading  on  that  subject 
again,  and  1)\-  that  time  you  have  forgotten  what  \ou  read  be- 
fore. I  rememljer  when  I  was  a  ])oy  and  used  to  hoe  corn  I 
did  it  so  ])oorl}-  that  I  had  to  put  a  stick  in  the  ground  to  tell 
wliere  I  left  off  one  day.  so  that  1  wouldn't  go  over  the  same 
ground   llie   next   da}'. 

I've  traveled  around  a  good  deal,  and  many  times  have 
stopped  where  they  had  family  worship.  The  head  of  the 
house  would  take  down  the  Bible,  and  there  would  always  be 
a  mark  in  it.  B.ut  if  there  was  more  than  one  mark,  or  if  the 
mark  had  got  changed,  he  woiddn't  know  where  to  read,  and 
he  would  say  to  his  wife,  "  Didn't  we  read  this  chapter  yester- 
day?" And  she  wouldn't  know,  and  so  he  would  read  the 
same  chapter  he  had  read  the  previous  morning.  A  good 
man\-  ])eo])le  don't  know  where  they  leave  off  luiless  they  put 
a  mark  in  the  place  where  they  read  the  Bible  last;  and  then 


KEYS    AND    TVl'KS. 


511 


they  wonder  why  it  is  they  don't  get  hold  of  the  iiible,  —  why 
they  don't  understand  it.  I  don't  beheve  they  will  ever  under- 
stand the  Bible  in  reading  it  that  way.  \Ve  have  got  to  dig  in 
order  to  reach  these  heavenlx'  truths  —  not  dig  a  little  here 
and  a  little  there,  ])ut  keep  right  on  digging  in  one  place  until 
we  find  the  truth.  If  people  make  up  their  minds  that  they  are 
going  to  get  interested  in  Bible  truths,  they  arc  going  to  dig 
away  until  they  find  them. 

Each  book  has  a  key,  and  you  want  to  find  the  ke\-  to  help 
in  its  study.  If  }ou  take  up  a  modern  book  you  will  often 
find  at  the  beginning  a  preface  which  gives  you  the  key  to  the 
book.  There  are  only  sixty-six  books  in  the  Bible,  and  it 
won't  take  long  to  get  sixty-six  keys.  Take  Genesis;  that  is 
the  seed-plant  of  the  whole  Bible;  you  will  find  nearly  every- 
thing in  the  Bible  foreshadowed  in  the  book  of  Genesis.  Then 
take  Exodus;  that  is  the  book  of  redemption;  then  Leviticus, 
the  book  of  sacrifices;  then  Numbers,  the  book  of  wanderings; 
then  Deuteronomy,  the  book  of  directions  for  the  conduct  of 
the  children  of  Israel  after  they  get  into  the  promised  land. 
Christ  quotes  more  from  that  than  from  any  other  book,  and 
that  is  the  reason  wh}-  the  devil  attacks  it  so  much  at  the 
jiresent  time. 

Then  take  up  Bible  characters  as  types  of  Christ,  and  see 
if  you  can  find  any  likeness  in  any  of  them  to  Christ  Himself. 
Abel  was  a  type  of  Christ;  Enoch,  Abraham,  and  Isaac  are 
types  of  Christ.  Perhaps  one  of  the  best  types  was  Joseph. 
He  was  hated  by  his  own  brethren;  so  was  Christ.  He  was 
stripped  of  his  raiment;  he  was  sold  for  twenty  pieces  of  silver; 
he  was  betrayed  and  misjudged;  cast  into  a  pit  and  into  prison. 
Did  not  Christ's  enemies  treat  Ilim  much  the  same?  At  God's 
appointed  time  Joseph  was  brought  out  of  prison  and  made 
governor  over  all  Egypt.  Did  not  God  take  Christ  out  of  the 
sepulchre  and  place  Him  on  the  throne  of  Heaven? 

A  good  w^ay  to  study  the  Bil)le  is  to  take  it  up  topically.  T 
think  I  have  received  more  help  in  that  way  than  any  other. 
There  is  a  book  that  I  think  every  Christian  ought  to  have, 


512 


sTrnvixc.   the  bibi,k   iiv  toi'Ics. 


and  that  is  a  Concordance.  IVrliaps  all  teachers  and  ministers 
ha\'e  them  ;  l)ut  I  tell  }()u  everyone  oug'ht  to  have  certain 
books.  If  you  can't  have  a  whole  li])rarv  von  can  at  K-ast 
have  a  few  books  that  will  be  g'reat  helps.  I  remember,  in 
Roston.  an  infidel  once  picked  me  up  on  a  (piotation  T  had 
made  from  the  lJil)le.  He  said  it  wasn't  in  the  liible,  and  he 
handed  me  a  P>ible  and  asked  me  to  find  it.  He  might  just  as 
well  have  asked  me  to  hunt  for  a  needle  in  a  haymow  ;  I 
couldn't  find  it.  Often  the  question  comes  u])  if  such-and-such 
a  passage  is  in  the  TJible,  and  y(iu  may  hunt  hours  without  find- 
ing it;  but  if  you  have  a  Concordance  }ou  can  find  it  in  three 
nn'nntes. 

Suppose,  for  instance,  you  look  uj)  every  passage  in  the 
Bible  on  Assurance,  and  study  the  subject  until  you  have 
mastered  it.  You  get  the  whole  drift  of  the  subject  and  it 
will  go  with  yoit  all  through  life;  and  twenty,  thirty,  or  forty 
years  hence  it  will  be  a  feast  to  you.     A  man  once  said  to  me: 

"Can  you  reconnnend  a  book  on  Assurance?" 

''  Yes.  There  is  a  very  fine  one  on  Assurance,  written  by 
a  man  named  Johr." 

"  An  Englishman?  " 

"  Xo.     Son  of  Zebedee." 

■■  Where  can  I  get  it?  " 

■'  At  any  bookstore." 

"What  shall  T  call  f.n-?  " 

"  It  is  in  the  Bible,  bound  u\^  with  some  other  works.  Tt 
is  better  than  all  the  infidel  books  ever  ])ublished.  You  had 
better  read  and  study  it." 

If  a  ])erson  \vill  studv  that  e])istle  a  few  weeks  he  w  ill  lind 
out  whether  he  is  in  the  kingdom  of  Clod  or  not. 

Then  take  up  the  doctrine  of  the  ;\tonement  and  see  what 
the  Bible  has  to  say  about  it.  The  whole  P)ible  teaches  the 
doctrine  of  Atonement.  I  renieml)er  at  one  time  speaking  on 
Heaven,  and  a  lady  came  to  me  and  said.  "  Mr.  Moody,  I  never 
knew  there  was  so  much  in  the  Bible  about  Heaven."  1  had 
talked  for  half  an  hour  about  Heaven,  and  she  thought  T  had 


TKLESCOPIC    STUDY    OF    THE    BIBLE. 


SI3 


told  all  there  was  in  the  Bible  about  it.  You  can  spend  a 
whole  month  on  Heaven,  and  you  won't  exhaust  the  subject. 

I  renienil)cr  giving  sonic  time  to  the  study  of  the  subject  of 
Grace.  T  don't  know  how  long  I  was  on  that  subject,  but  I 
got  so  full  of  it  that  I  had  to  go  out  and  talk  about  it.  You 
know  that  when  a  vessel  is  full  there  must  be  an  outlet.  So  I 
went  out  on  the  street  and  spoke  to  the  first  man  that  came 
along,  and  asked  him  if  he  knew  anything  about  the  Grace  of 
God.  I  suppose  he  thought  I  was  crazy.  If  you  will  study 
in  this  way  you  will  get  so  full  of  these  subjects  that  it  will  not 
be  hard  to  take  up  personal  work  in  the  kingdom  of  God;  be- 
cause when  you  get  your  very  soul  on  fire  you  can't  help 
working  for  Him. 

Take  up  some  of  these  grand  doctrines  and  study  them  for 
yourselves.  I  once  thought  I  could  turn  Chicago  upside  down 
if  I  could  only  get  faith,  and  so  I  used  to  pray  for  faith.  I  had 
an  idea  that  it  was  going  to  come  right  down  from  heaven  and 
strike  me  like  lightning,  and  T  should  jump  right  up  frcjui  mv 
knees  full  of  it;  but  it  didn't  come.  Then  T  read  in  the  tenth 
chapter  of  Romans  that  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hear- 
ing by  the  word  of  God,"  and  it  came  to  me  like  a  revelation 
from  heaven.  Ever  since  I  began  to  study  the  Ilible  my  faith 
has  been  growing.  "\'ou  can't  get  acquainted  with  these 
promises  and  feed  on  them  without  having  your  faith  grow 
stronger. 

Another  good  way  to  study  the  Bible  is  to  study  it  with  a 
telescope.  What  I  mean  by  studying  it  with  a  telescope  is  to 
get  the  drift  of  the  whole  book.  Take  the  book  of  Matthew, 
and  you  have  a  whole  lecture.  Tf  you  are  going  to  stop  to  take 
account  of  the  essential  points  of  the  book  there  are  five  re- 
markable sermons  in  it.  Matthew  was  a  sort  of  short-hand 
reporter,  and  he  rei)orted  the  sermons  more  fully  than  the  rest. 
Get  those  five  sermons  in  the  Book  of  Matthew  and  you  have 
a  pretty  good  idea  of  the  whole  book. 

Then  take  INIark,  and  you  will  find  that  there  isn't  a  long 
sermon  in  it.     It  is  supposed  to  be  written  for  the  Romans, 


SH 


FOUR    DIFFERENT    STANDPOINTS. 


wlio  would  not  have  received  it  if  it  had  been  made  up  of  long 
sermons;  it  is  full  of  pith}'  points. 

Matthew  begins  with  Abraham  and  writes  to  the  Jews. 
i\Iark  commences  with  Malachi's  prophecy;  Luke  begins  with 
John  the  Baptist;  while  John  begins  with  Christ  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Father.  If  I  wanted  to  prove  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ 
I  would  go  to  John.  Matthew  tells  us  of  the  resurrection  of 
our  Lord,  but  he  does  not  tell  us  how  He  left  this  earth.  Mark 
gives  His  resurrection  and  ascension,  and  Luke  also  gives  His 
resurrection  and  ascension,  and  reappearance  with  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  John  we  have  all  these,  and 
the  promise  of  His  return.  Those  four  men  wrote  from  four 
different  standpoints;  get  those  standpoints  and  study  each 
Gospel  from  that  light,  and  \-ou  will  find  all  the  Gospel  we 
have  in  them. 

I  have  over  eleven  hundred  students  at  the  school  in  Xorth- 
field.  I  found  it  very  difficult  to  open  services  with  morning- 
prayer.  We  had  only  about  fifteen  minutes  to  get  and  hold 
their  attention  before  the}-  had  to  go  into  their  classes  and 
recite  in  Latin  and  Greek.  Every  mind  was  on  the  alert  to 
be  able  to  recite,  and  they  would  have  been  tempted  to  look 
into  their  books  had  there  not  been  a  kind  of  unwritten  law 
against  it.  I  couldn't  get  hold  of  those  eleven  hundred  students 
when  their  minds  were  occupied  with  thoughts  of  their  studies, 
and  I  hit  upon  this  plan:  I  said  to  them  one  morning,  "  To- 
morrow morning  I  am  not  going  to  open  the  Bible,  but  I  want 
you  to  tell  me  what  is  in  the  first  chapter  of  John."  I  had  to 
go  to  studying  m}self;  }OU  can't  conunit  to  memory  when  you 
are  as  old  as  I  am  as  easily  as  you  can  when  you  are  younger. 
We  committed  to  memory  the  verses  that  were  assigned  for 
that  morning,  and.  more  than  all,  it  became  very  interesting 
before  we  had  gone  very  far.  The  students  committed  those 
verses  to  memory  and  carried  them  with  them  through  life. 
When  we  got  into  the  second  chapter  they  became  very  much 
interested  in  the  miracle  at  the  marriage  in  Cana,  where  the 
mother  of  lesus  said  to  the  servants,  "  Whatsoever  He  saith 


A    WONDERFUL    GOSPEL.  515 

unto  you,  do  it.'"  When  we  got  into  the  third  chapter  of  John 
we  had  hard  work  to  get  out  of  it.  We  spent  the  most  time 
on  the  sixteentli  verse,  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He 
gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believcth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life."  In  the  fourth 
chapter  we  got  around  to  that  well  of  Sychar.  I  don't  T)elieve 
we  ever  had  a  more  blessed  time  in  the  school,  until  we  got 
into  the  fifth  chapter,  w^here  were  the  witnesses  that  Christ 
brought  to  prove  that  He  was  divine.  The  sixth  chapter  we 
called  the  "  Bread  Chapter."  The  seventh  chapter  we  called 
the  "  Water  Chapter."  The  eighth  chapter  we  called  the 
"  Light  Chapter."  The  ninth  chapter  we  called  the  "  Sight 
Chapter."  A  man  may  have  plenty  of  light,  but  he  must  have 
his  eyes  open  if  he  wants  to  sec.  The  tenth  chapter  we  called 
the  "  Good  Shepherd  Chapter."  The  eleventh  chapter  tells  of 
the  Shepherd  going  to  find  the  sheep  that  had  strayed  and 
bring  it  back  to  the  fold.  The  twelfth  chapter  gives  Christ's 
farewell  to  the  people.  The  thirteenth  chapter  teaches  humil- 
ity. The  fourteenth  chapter  tells  of  the  mansions  in  Heaven. 
The  fifteenth  chapter  tells  of  the  True  Vine.  The  sixteenth 
chapter  tells  of  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  seven- 
teenth chapter  tells  of  Christ  Jesus  in  prayer  for  His  disciples. 
The  eighteenth  chapter  tells  of  His  arrest.  The  nineteenth 
chapter  tells  of  His  crucifixion.  The  twentieth  chapter  tells  of 
His  resurrection.  In  the  twenty-first  chapter  He  is  with  His 
disciples  again,  then  He  ascends  to  the  Father.  There  isn't 
a  book  that  you  cannot  study  with  a  telescope;  that  is,  take  a 
bird's  eye  view  of  the  whole  thing. 

Then  study  it  with  a  microscope.  What  I  mean  l)y  study- 
ing the  Bible  with  a  microscope  is  to  take  up  one  word,  or  one 
thought,  and  trace  it  through  the  whole  book.  Take  the  word 
*'  Walk,"  as  in  Ephesians :  walk  in  obedience,  walk  in  love, 
walk  worthy  of  the  vocation,  walk  circumspectly,  walk  as  chil- 
dren of  light,  walk  in  good  works,  walk  not  as  the  Gentiles 
walk.  Take  the  "  No  mores  "  of  Revelation.  Take  the  eight 
"  Overcomes  "  of  Revelation  ;  I  could  almost  shout  before  T 


5i6 


THE    FACE    ON    THE    STONE. 


got  through.  "He  that  ovcrconieth  shall  inherit  all  things; 
and  1  will  Ije  his  (lod,  and  he  shall  be  ]\ly  son." 

When  I  was  in  IJoston  1  went  into  a  ehronio  establishment. 
I  wanted  to  know  how  the  work  was  done.  The  proprietor 
showed  me  a  stone  several  feet  sf|uare,  one  of  many  stones 
used  in  printing  a  portrait,  from  whieh  he  took  an  impression 
on  paper ;  l)ut  w  hen  he  took  the  jjaper  off  the  stone  T  eould  see 
no  sign  of  a  man's  face  ;  the  pa]H'r  was  just  tinged  with  a  little 
color.  I  said  I  couldn't  see  any  sign  of  a  face  there.  "  Wait 
a  little,"  he  said.  He  took  me  to  another  stone,  but  when  the 
paper  was  lifted  I  couldn't  see  any  indication  of  a  face.  He 
took  me  to  eight,  nine,  ten  stones,  and  at  last  I  coidd  just  see 
the  faintest  outlines  of  a  portrait.  He  went  on  until  he  got 
up  to  about  the  twentieth  stone,  and  I  could  see  the  face  dis- 
tinctly, l)ut  he  said  it  was  not  perfect  yet.  Well,  he  went  on 
imtil  he  came,  I  think,  to  the  twenty-eighth  stone,  and  a  per- 
fect face  appeared,  and  it  looked  as  if  it  could  speak.  If  }OU 
read  a  cha])ter  of  the  ljil:)le  and  don't  see  anything  in  it,  read  it 
a  second  time,  and  if  you  cannot  see  anything  in  il  read  it  a 
third  time.  Dig  deep.  Read  it  again  and  again,  and  even  if 
you  have  to  read  it  twenty-eight  times,  do  so,  and  nou  will  see 
the  man  Christ  Jesus,  for  He  is  in  every  page  of  the  Word. 

I  honestly  Ix-lieve  that  the  coming  minister  is  going  to  be  a 
man  who  will  ex])lain  the  Word;  1  believe  what  this  nation  is 
crving  for  is  expository  ])reachers.  I  know  some  ministers 
who  onlv  use  the  P.ible  as  a  book  to  take  a  text  from.  They 
\\-ill  give  \()U  meta])liysics,  and  geology,  and  ])otany,  and  as- 
trononi}',  and  I  don't  I- now  what  else,  and  then  wonder  why 
people  don't  love  the  liible.  1  don't  wonder.  A  man  made 
an  artificial  bee  that  was  so  like  the  real  bee  that  he  challenged 
a  man  to  tell  the  difference,  ^\'hat  did  the  man  who  was  chal- 
lenged do?  He  dro])ped  a  little  honey  near  the  l)ees  :  the  arti- 
ficial l)ee  went  l)uzzing  around,  and  made  a  great  noise,  l)Ut 
took  no  ncjtice  of  the  honey.  No  life  in  it !  The  real  bee  went 
for  the  honey.  There  are  a  lot  of  artificial  Christians  in  these 
da\s  :  the\-   know   nothing  about    lione\' ;  lhc\-  talk   about   the 


A    FAMOrs    SC'OTCH    PREACHER.  517 

honey  of  the  WDrd.  l)ut  they  know  nothing  about  it,  because 
they  are  artificial.  So  many  of  these  Christians  want  an  elo- 
quent or  ])onibastic  preacher,  a  man  who  has  great  oratorical 
gifts  or  makes  striking  gestures!     You  hear  such  people  say: 

"  I  went  to  hoar  so-and-so  preach  ;  never  heard  such  a 
Gospel  sermon  in  my  life." 

Wasn't  an  ounce  of  Gospel  in  il  from  beginning  to  end !  If 
a  man  has  got  a  flippant  tongue,  many  people  think  he  is  just 
wonderful!  \\'hat  we  want  is  to  know  what  God  wants  us 
to  do. 

Dr.  Andrew  I^onar  wasn't  what  would  be  called  in  this 
country  a  star  preacher,  —  he  had  a  very  weak  voice  ;  but  I 
never  heard  a  man  who  brought  such  sweet  things  out  of  the 
Word  of  God  as  he  did.  When  I  was  in  Glasgow  I  heard  a 
great  deal  about  him.  His  church  held  about  1.300,  and  for 
twenty-five  }ears  it  was  full  every  Sunday  of  people  taking- 
notes  ;  sometimes  these  notes  were  sent  across  the  sea  to  me, 
and  I  never  received  one  of  those  outlines  that  wasn't  a  feast  to 
my  soul.  Jt  was  a  coiumon  thing  when  we  met  one  of  Dr. 
Bonar's  people  to  fiud  the  man  carrying  a  Bible,  all  ready  for 
work.  When  the  Doctor  called  on  his  people,  he  would  often 
read  one  of  the  Gospels  or  one  of  the  Epistles,  and  take  time 
to  explain  the  whole  thing.  The  result  was  that  he  had  a 
church  full  of  theologians.  I  preached  six  months  in  Glasgow, 
and  there  wasn't  a  ward  in  that  city  where  I  didn't  feel  the  in- 
fluence of  that  man. 

Every  man  and  woman  ought  to  have  each  a  Bible  for 
themselves.  I  use  my  Bible  to  preach  from.  It  is  an  inter- 
leaved Bible  ;  every  other  page  is  a  blank,  and  I  use  it  as  a  note- 
book. If  a  good  thought  comes  to  me  I  put  it  down,  and  if  T 
am  called  upon  suddenly  to  speak  on  any  topic —  and  I  don't 
care  what  the  subject  is  —  I  have  got  something  to  say.  I  turn 
the  leaves  over  and  see  what  some  one  else  said  on  that  subject. 
I  declare,  I  have  heard  men  preach  and  T  didn't  kuow  what 
they  were  talking  about,  and  I  wondered  if  they  did  themselves. 
Like  the  young  couple  who  got  married  and  went  to  house- 


5ii 


GOLDEN    THOLKillTS. 


keeping,  and  they  agreed  to  balance  the  cash  every  Saturday 
night.     One  night  the  husband  said  : 

"  Well,  dear,  1  must  go  away  to-night,  and  you  make  up 
the  accounts  yourself." 

\\'ell,  the  cash  didn't  balance,  so  she  charged  "  G.  K.  W. 
$2.00,"  "  G.  K.  W.  $2.50,"  "  G.  K.  W.  $3.50,"  and  so  on. 
^^'hen  the  husband  returned,  he  said  : 

"WhoisthisG.  K.  W.?"' 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  T  couhhi't  make  the  cash  come  out 
straight,  and  so  I  just  put  down  (i.  K.  W.  for  'Goodness 
Knows  \\'hat."  " 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  direct  your  thoughts  and  meditate. 
Take  your  Bible  and  just  say  to  God,  "  Speak  to  me ;  "  and 
when  you  get  a  good  thought  it  will  wake  you  up  and  do  you 
good.  Transmit  that  thought  ;  conununicate  it ;  if  you  get  a 
thought  that  has  given  you  joy,  don't  keep  it,  pass  it  on.  I  heard 
some  time  ago  of  a  young  man  in  London  who  never  went 
to  bed  at  night  without  putting  down  the  best  thought  that 
had  come  to  him  during  the  day. 

This  idea  of  recording  our  best  thoughts  has  been  a  great 
help  to  me.  I  have  tried  to  introduce  the  plan  of  treasuring 
up  one  good  thought  each  da\'.  livery  good  thought  you  get 
will  help.  If  you  want  to  get  your  thoughts  full  of  heavenly 
things,  talk  and  read  about  them.  I  Tow  coidd  people  know 
anything  about  the  Klondike  if  they  (li(hrt  read  about  it.  I  am 
astonished  to  see  so  many  Christian  peo]')le  spend  so  nnich 
money  for  tobacco  and  so  little  for  good  books. 

Let  me  give  you  some  things  I  have  jotted  down.  1  don't 
remember  where  I  got  all  these  things.  Mere  is  something: 
"  Justification,  a  change  of  state,  a  new  standing  before  God  ; 
Repentance,  a  change  of  mind,  a  new  mind  about  God  ;  Regen- 
eration, a  change  of  nature,  a  new  heart  from  ( iod  ;  Con'i'ersion, 
a  change  of  life,  a  new  life  for  God  ;  .  Idoption,  a  change  of  fam- 
ilv,  a  new  relationship  towards  God  ;  Sanctificatioii.  a  change  of 
service,  a  separation  unto  God  ;  Glorification,  a  change  of  place, 
a  new  condition  with  God." 


QUAINT    COMPARISONS.  51f) 

Then  here  is  another  things  I  will  give  you :  "  FAITH  gets 
the  vwst;  HUMILITY  keeps  the  most;  LOVE  tvorks  the  most:' 
Take  up  the  Word  of  Ciod  in  the  morning  and  get  a  thought 
hkc  tliat  and  it  will  help  you  all  through  the  day. 

I  want  to  tell  you  how  I  was  blessed  a  few  years  ago,  upon 
hearing  a  discourse  upon  the  thirtieth  chapter  of  Proverbs. 
The  speaker  said  the  children  of  God  were  like  four  things. 
The  first  thing  was,  "  The  ants  are  a  people  not  strong,"  and 
he  went  on  to  compare  the  children  of  God  to  ants.  They 
pay  no  attention  to  the  things  of  the  present,  but  go  on  steadily 
preparing  for  the  future. 

The  next  thing  he  compared  them  to  \vas  conies.  "  The 
conies  are  but  a  feeble  folk."  "  Well,"  said  I,  "  I  wouldn't 
care  to  be  like  a  coney."  But  he  went  on  to  say  that  they  built 
upon  a  rock.  The  children  of  God  were  very  weak,  but  they 
laid  their  foundation  upon  a  rock.  "  Well."  said  I,  "  I  will  be 
like  a  coney,  and  build  my  hopes  upon  a  rock."  Like  the  Irish- 
man, who  said  he  trembled  himself,  but  the  rock  upon  which 
his  house  was  built  never  did. 

The  next  thing  the  speaker  compared  them  to  was  locusts. 
I  didn't  think  much  of  locusts,  and  I  thought  I  wouldn't  care 
about  being  like  one.  r>ut  he  went  on  to  read :  "  The  locusts 
have  no  king,  yet  go  they  forth  all  of  them  by  bands."  There 
were  the  Congregationalist,  the  Presbyterian,  the  Baptist,  and 
the  Methodist  bands  going  forth  without  a  king ;  but  by  and  by 
our  King  will  come  back  again,  and  these  bands  will  fly  to  Him. 
"  Well,  I  will  l)e  like  a  locust ;  my  King's  away."  I  thought. 

He  next  compared  them  to  si)idcrs.  I  didn't  like  that  at  all ; 
but  he  said  if  we  went  into  a  gilded  palace  filled  with  luxury, 
we  might  see  a  spider  holding  on  to  something.  ol)livious  to 
all  the  luxur\-  below.  It  was  laying  hold  of  the  things  above. 
"  Well,"  said  I,  "  I  will  be  like  a  spider." 

I  heard  this  a  good  many  years  ago,  and  I  just  put  the 
speaker's  name  to  it.  and  it  makes  the  sermon.  But  take  your 
Bibles  and  mark  them.  Don't  think  of  wearing  them  out.  It 
is  a  rare  thing  to  find  a  man  wearing  his  Bible  out  now-a-days. 


!;20 


THE    FAMILY    I51BLE, 


Sunday-school  teachers  ought  to  carry  the  whole  Bible 
into  their  classes.  Twenty-five  years  ago  we  compassed  sea 
and  land  to  get  up  question-books,  and  now  you  will  find  a 
Sfood  nian^-  Sundav-schools  that  never  have  a  Bible  in  them. 
I  heard  of  a  class  that  wanted  to  refer  to  the  Bible  to  settle  a 
disputed  question,  and  they  went  into  the  church  and  looked 
in  all  the  pews  without  finding  one,  and  finally  they  had  to  get 
the  pulpit  Bible  and  carry  it  into  the  liible-class  to  decide  the 
point.  I  do  not  object  to  "  lesson  helps,"  they  are  all  right  in 
their  place  ;  but  when  you  go  into  the  P.ible-class,  take  the  whole 
Bible  along  with  you.  I  was  l)rought  u\)  on  t)ne  of  these  ques- 
tion-books. I  didn't  have  a  Bible  at  all.  ^^'e  had  a  family 
Bible  that  mother  used  to  keep  in  the  spare  room  because  she 
was  afraid  we  would  tear  it,  and  once  in  a  great  while  we  were 
allowed  to  look  into  it.  1  used  to  look  and  see  when  Dwight 
was  born.  1  saw  these  titles  at  the  head  of  some  of  the  pages, 
"  Births."  "  Marriages."  "  Deaths."  1  always  turned  to  "  Mar- 
riages "  first,  for  that  showed  when  father  and  mother  were 
married  ;  and  then  I  would  turn  to  "  llirths  "  to  see  wlien  my 
oldest  brother  and  sister  were  born  ;  but  what  used  to  make  my 
eves  sparkle  was  to  get  down  to  where  the  record  showed  when 
Dwight  was  born.  That  is  all  1  saw  of  the  liible.  Do  you 
know  whv  so  many  young  nun  hang  around  our  Sunday- 
schools  and  don't  want  to  go  into  a  Bible-class?  They  don't 
want  to  expose  their  ignorance  of  the  ]^>ible.  I  went  to  Boston 
when  T  was  seventeen.  1  had  scarcely  had  a  Bi])le  in  m\  hand. 
I  was  assigned  to  a  Bible-class  with  some  young  students  from 
Harvard  College.  I  went  in  there  as  big  as  life!  I  tell  you 
what,  you  think  }()U  know  a1)(JUt  everythin;;-  when  \-ou  are 
about  seventeen  ;  you  know  more  tlian  your  fatlur,  xour  grand- 
father, and  all  your  relations!  Well,  they  said  the  lesson  was 
in  John,  and  they  handed  me  a  I'.ible.  \\'hat  did  T  know^  about 
John?  I  thought  it  nmst  be  in  tlie  minor  ])rophels.  'I'hose 
Harvard  students  began  to  nudge  one  another  and  wliis])er, 
"  Greeny  from  the  country."  T  said  to  myself,  "  Wliat  a  fool 
I  am  to  be  caught  in  this  scrape."     1  u(.)idd  have  gone  out  very 


THK    HI!! I  F.  IX    TIIK    I'RW 


521 


(|uickly  if  I  could  have  done  so  withcnit  bcinq-  noticed.  'I'hc 
teacher  saw  ni\  embarrassment  and  lianded  me  his  Bible, 
opened  to  the  place,  and  I  stuck  my  thumb  on  it  so  I  shouldn't 
lose  it.  I  had  been  to  Sunday-school  ever  since  I  was  a  little 
boy,  but  I  didn't  have  a  I)il)le  and  didn't  know  how  to  handle 
one. 

Take  a  person  who  has  never  used  a  JJible,  and  put  it  into 
his  hand  and  tell  him  that  it  will  show  him  the  way  to  heaven, 
and  you  might  almost  as  well  put  a  dictionary  or  IMackstone's 
commentaries  in  his  hand.  It  is  very  important  that  our  chil- 
dren should  know  how  to  use  the  Bible.  Thank  God!  we  live 
in  a  land  where  the  Bible  is  sold  so  cheap  that  almost  everv- 
body  can  buy  one,  and  if  you  can't  buv,  the  Bible  Societ\'  will 
give  you  one. 

It  is  a  good  thing-  to  see  a  Bible  in  each  pew  in  cliurch  so 
that  when  the  minister  reads,  the  people  can  read  with  him  ;  the 
whole  congregation  will  follow  the  minister  right  along,  and 
the  result  is  that  a  child  ten  years  old  will  know  better  how^  to 
use  a  Bible  than  the  young  man  who  goes  to  college,  if  he  hasn't 
Ijeen  in  a  Bible-class  where  they  use  the  whole  Bible. 

If  I  had  my  life  to  live  over  again  I  would  spend  not  less 
than  half  an  hour  every  day  in  studying  the  Bible  all  alone.  I 
have  yet  to  find  the  first  man  who  knows  the  Bible  through. 
I  have  yet  to  find  a  man  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  full  of  the 
spirit  of  the  Bible  of  whom  God  did  not  make  use. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

THE   STORY    OF   THE    DELUGE  — TO    FATHERS    AND 
MOTHERS. 

An  Awful  Communication  —  Noah  Considered  a  Lunatic  —  Jeered 
at  by  His  Neighbors  —  The  Man  Who  Claimed  that  Force  and 
[Matter  Work  Together — Rocks  Made  of  Sand,  and  Sand  Made 
of  Rocks  ^ — "Noah  and  His  Folly"  —  Sending  Reporters  to 
"Write  Up"  Noah  and  His  Ark  —  "No  Signs  of  a  Storm"  — 
Confidence  in  a  Father's  Piety  —  The  Beasts  and  Fowls  Flock 
to  the  Ark  —  A  Warning  Always  comes  Before  the  Blow  —  "  You 
Can't  Get  In  "  —  The  Last  Day  and  the  Last  Hour  —  "  Are  All  the 
Children  In?"  —  A  Wealthy  Land-owner  and  His  Dying  Son  — 
"Father,  Have  I  Got  to  Die?"  —  The  Father's  Remorse  — 
"  I  Shall  be  With  Jesus  To-night  "  —  On  the  Brink  of  the  Dark 
River  —  "  Father,  Won't  You  Go  With  Me?"  — A  Terrible  Rail- 
road Accident  —  The  Hymn  Book  Stained  with  Blood. 

N(  )AH  received  the  most  awful  coninuinication  that  ever 
came  from  heaven  to  earth.     I  don't  believe  any  man 
ha.s  ever  received  anything;  so  terril)le  since,  —  a  mes- 
sage that  God  was  going  to  utterly  destroy  tlie  world  on  ac- 
count of  its  wickedness. 

The  Spirit  of  God  strove  with  thai  antediluvian  world  oni' 
hundred  and  twent}'  years.  I  ha\c  no  doulu  that,  if  there  had 
been  one  honest  cr\'  for  mercy  during  those  luuidred  and 
twenty  years,  (jod  would  have  heard  that  cry.  But  they 
laughed  at  the  idea  that  ]  le  was  going  to  destroy  the  world  by 
a  flood.  The\-  mocked  and  scoffed  and  jeered  at  llie  thought 
of  God's  destroying  the  world  on  account  of  its  wickedness. 

Probably  we  have  not  the  faintest  suspicion  of  the  awful 
wickedness  of  that  first  two  thousand  years.  God  has  not  left 
a  record,  for  fear,  T  suppose,  that  we  might  cop\-  some  of  those 
hellish  acts.  ATen  lived  nearly  a  thousand  years  then.  They 
had  time  to  mature  in  sin.     I  don't  know  what  would  happen 

(522) 


NOAH,    THE    F-ANATIC.  523 

if  men  lived  a  thousand  years  now.  But  the  time  alloted  to 
man  now  is  only  three-score  years  and  ten.  But,  mark  this. 
Sin  leaped  into  the  world  full-grown.  The  first  man  born  of 
a  woman  was  a  murderer,  and  the  wickedness  went  on,  and 
the  world  became  so  corrupt  and  so  vile  that  God  sent  word 
that  He  was  going  to  destroy  it ;  and  Noah,  at  His  command, 
went  to  work  to  build  an  ark.  I  have  no  doubt  that  Noah  was 
considered  the  greatest  lunatic  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  there  were  atheists  then,  as  now,  and  perhaps 
there  were  lecturers  running  up  and  down  telling  people  that 
there  was  no  God ;  that  Noah  was  "  daft  " ;  that  he  was  a 
fanatic ;  that  there  was  no  such  thing  as  God's  destroying  the 
world. 

I  once  got  hold  of  one  of  these  modern  philosophers,  who 
took  the  ground  that  there  is  no  God.  I  asked  him  how  this 
world  came  into  being,  and  he  said  that  force  and  matter 
worked  together,  and  by  chance  the  world  came  out.  I  said, 
"  That  is  singular.  I  wonder  that  your  tongue  is  not  set  on 
the  top  of  your  head,  and  one  half  of  you  is  not  going  one  way 
and  the  other  half  another  way."  It  seems  marvelous  that 
man  happened  to  be  thrown  together  just  as  he  is.  I  take  a 
watch,  and  say  :  "  This  watch  made  itself.  There  is  gold,  and 
glass,  and  metal,  and  they  just  threw  themselves  together." 
No  one  could  make  an  intelligent  person  believe  that  a  watch 
made  itself.  Yet  here  was  a  man  running  up  and  down  the 
country  saying  that  this  world  made  itself. 

I  met  such  a  j)hilosopher  in  Scotland.     I  said  : 

"  Where  do  these  rocks  come  from?  " 

"  I  am  ashamed  of  you,"  said  he.     "  Any  schoolboy  can 
tell  you  that.     Why,  they're  made  out  of  sand." 
'"  Well,"  said  I,  "  what  is  the  sand  made  of?  " 

"  Rocks." 

"Where  did  the  first  rock  come  from?" 

"  Sand." 

"  Wheie  did  the  first  sand  come  from?" 

"  It  came  from  rock." 
32 


r24  INTEREST    IN    "NOAH'S    FOLLY." 

He  had  it  all  worked  out,  as  "  clear  as  nuul."  Tliat  was  the 
kind  of  stuff  atheists  taught  in  Noah's  day. 

There  is  another  class  of  people  who  take  the  ground  that 
there  is  a  God,  but  He  is  too  merciful  to  punish  sin.  The 
wicked  and  the  righteous  are  coming  out  alike.  Or,  in  other 
words,  God  came  down  in  that  flood  to  sweep  them  all  into 
Heaven,  and  left  Noah,  the  only  righteous  man.  to  live  through 
the  deluge. 

Suppose  the  governor  of  your  state  was  so  merciful  that  he 
could  not  bear  to  have  any  one  suffer,  and  should  set  all  the 
prisoners  free.  You  would  have  to  impeach  him.  These  very 
men  who  talk  about  God's  mercy  would  rise  up  and  say, 
"  That  man  shall  not  be  governor  of  this  state."  Von  would 
have  him  out  of  offtce  as  soon  as  possible. 

Then,  no  dou])t,  there  was  a  class  of  people  who  said. 
"  There  is  a  God.  He  is  merciful.  But  if  there  comes  a  Rood. 
I  won't  go  into  that  ark  anyway.  All  we  have  got  to  do  is  to 
climb  up  on  the  hills.  God  couldn't  bring  a  flood  big  enough 
to  cover  the  mountains.     The  ark  would  go  to  pieces." 

If  they  had  theaters  in  those  days,  no  doubt  they  had 
"  Noah's  Ark  "  acted  out  on  the  stage.  If  they  happened  to 
see  Noah  walking  the  streets,  the  women  jjcrhaps  said,  "  He  is 
not  in  his  right  mind.  Look  at  his  eyes."  And  if  they  had 
newspapers,  they  would,  probably,  every  once  in  a  while  pub- 
lish a  dispatch  from  the  Associated  Press,  headed :  "  NOAH 
AND  HIS  FOLLY,"  and  reporters  would  be  sent  to  "  write 
up  "  Noah  and  his  ark.  Every  once  in  a  while  people  would 
have  an  excursion,  or  make  a  picnic  to  go  and  visit  the  ark. 
Visitors  came  to  look  at  it.  You  can  see  them  looking  around  ; 
going  up  into  tlic  different  stories  of  it.  If  they  saw  Noah 
around,  they  would  say,  "  That's  him,  that's  him  there !  "  Once 
in  a  while  they  would  pass  by.  and  would  not  hear  the  sound 
of  the  carpenter's  hammers.  Noah  had  stopped  work,  and 
gone  off  on  a  preaching  tour.  Doubtless  they  told  him  he  had 
better  go  back  to  his  old  ark.  Suppose  he  had  been  adver- 
tised  to    speak    in    a    great    city,    would    he    have    drawn    an 


THK    LOXC.-DKLAVED    STORM. 


525 


audience?  Not  much.  They  didn't  believe  in  his  foil)-.  Men 
went  on  buyin;;-  and  selhnq;  and  getting^  S^in.  They  kei)t  l)uy- 
ing-  and  selhng  their  bonds  and  stocks,  and  tlie  builders  kept 
right  on  putting  up  their  buildings.  Business  men  said. 
"  Noah  must  be  wrong,  because  he  is  so  greatly  in  the 
niinoritv." 

lUit  Xoah  was  right  after  all.  x\  hundred  years  rolled 
away.  If  there  had  been  weather  prophets  in  those  days  they 
would  have  looked  into  the  heavens  and  said  there  were  no 
signs  of  a  coming  deluge.  The  stars  looked  just  the  same,  and 
the  sun  shone  as  brightly  as  ever  it  did.  The  lambs  skipped 
upon  the  hillside,  children  played  in  the  street,  and  everything 
moved  on  as  it  had  been  moving  for  all  time  past.  Methuselah 
died,  and  he  didn't  say  anything  about  a  coming  storm.  The 
great  scholars  said.  "  There  is  no  sign."  The  geologists  said. 
"  We  can  see  no  sign  in  the  earth  of  any  coming  storm. 
Things  have  been  going  on  for  a  thousand  years  as  now." 
Others  said.  "  Why,  if  God  is  going  to  destroy  the  world,  does 
he  let  us  have  such  prosperity?     We  don't  believe  it." 

So  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  passed  without  a  sign.  I 
don't  know  at  what  time  of  the  year  the  storm  burst.  It  might 
have  been  in  the  spring,  when  men  were  busy  with  their 
affairs,  and  everything  was  going  on  finely.  And  people  said  : 
"  I  don't  believe  there  is  any  danger."  That's  what  they  say 
now.  The  world  is  growing  better  all  the  while.  Everything 
is  progressing.  Of  course  our  sins  do  not  hinder  the  progress 
of  science  and  literature  and  invention.  I  can  imagine,  one 
morning  —  perhaps  it  was  beautiful  and  clear  —  the  whole 
community  was  startled  by  Xoah's  moving  his  household  into 
the  ark.  The  people  gather  around  him  and  say.  "  Noah,  what 
is  your  hurr_\?  You  don't  think  there's  any  danger  of  a  storm 
coming  to-day.  do  you ''  ^^"hy  are  you  moving  into  that  un- 
comfortable ark  ?  You  have  only  one  window  in  it.  There'll 
be  time  enough  when  the  storm  bursts  upon  us."  Noah  says 
nothing,  but  goes  right  on.  Some  one  has  suggested  that  he 
must  have  been  deaf  or  he  would  not  have  endured  the  gibes 


526 


MOVING    INTO    THE    ARK. 


of  his  neighbors.  If  he  was  deaf,  he  was  not  so  deaf  but  that 
he  could  hear  when  God  spoke  to  him.  There  may  be  stich  a 
tumult  in  this  world,  that  we  cannot  hear  the  voice  of  God. 

But  Noah  moved  in.  I  have  great  admiration  for  any 
parent  who  lives  so  that  his  chiltlrcn  have  confidence  in  his 
piety.  It  seems  to  me  if  ipy  children  did  not  believe  in  my 
religion  it  would  break  my  heart.  Noah's  children  had  con- 
fidence in  their  father,  and  when  Noah  went  in  his  sons  went 
in  after  him.  What  would  have  been  his  feelings  if  one  of  his 
sons  had  been  left  out?  jMothers,  just  think  of  it.  Get  all 
your  children  into  the  ark  of  safety.  Make  it  your  life  busi- 
ness to  get  them  in.  After  Noah  had  gone  into  the  ark,  and 
all  his  family  were  safely  in,  I  can  imagine  that  the  first  thing 
that  alarmed  the  scofifers  was  one  morning  when,  to  their  sur- 
prise, they  saw  the  heavens  black  with  the  fowls  of  the  air,  com- 
ing from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  two  by  two,  mated  by 
God,  and  as  they  came  to  the  ark  Noah  took  them  in.  And 
the  animals  came  from  their  dens  and  caves,  from  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth,  and  they  came  up  to  the  ark  two  by  two. 
The  lion  and  tlie  lamb  passed  in  side  by  side.  And  as  the 
people  looked  down  on  the  ground  they  could  see  insects  creep- 
ing towards  that  ark  two  by  two,  as  if  guided  by  an  unseen 
hand.  I  can  imagine  some  of  the  people  crying.  "  Merciful 
God  !  what  does  all  this  mean  ?  "  They  may  have  gone  to  their 
wise  men  and  philosophers  and  statesmen,  saying,  "  What 
does  this  mean?  "  They  answer,  "  We  don't  know,  but  there 
is  no  danger.  If  the  flood  really  comes  we  can  make  rafts 
better  than  that  ark.  Or  we  can  flee  to  the  mountains,  and  we 
shall  be  far  safer  there  than  in  the  ark." 

Listen.  After  Noah  and  his  family  were  all  in  and  the  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years  were  up,  God  gave  the  people  seven 
days  of  grace.  During  these  seven  days,  if  there  had  been  a 
cry  for  mercy,  God  would  have  heard  it.  I  don't  believe  you 
can  find  an  instance  in  history  where  God  has  not  given  a 
warning  before  the  blow  came.  bJeforc  the  Civil  War  a  wave 
of  righteousness  passed  over  this  country  that  brought  half 


THE    CLOSED    DOOR. 


527 


a  million  souls  into  the  church.  It  was  the  voice  of  Grace  and 
of  Mercy  calling  them  in.  Seven  days  of  grace,  but  not  a  man 
believed  it.  The  windows  of  heaven  were  open,  and  the 
fountains  of  the  deep  were  broken  up.  The  sea  burst  its 
bounds  and  leaped  over  its  walls.  The  rivers  began  to  swell. 
People  living  in  the  lowlands  fled  to  the  mountains  and  high- 
lands.    They  fled  up  the  hillsides.     And  a  wail  went  up : 

"  Noah  !  Noah  !  Noah  !  Let  us  in." 

They  leave  their  homes  and  come  to  the  ark  now.  They 
pound  on  the  door.     TIear  them  cry  : 

"  Noah  !  Let  us  in.  Noah !  Have  mercy  on  me."  "  I  am 
your  nephew,"  "  I  am  your  niece,"  "  I  am  your  uncle." 

Ah,  there  is  a  voice  inside,  saying : 

"  I  should  like  to  let  you  in ;  but  God  has  shut  the  door,  and 
I  cannot  open  it !  " 

Ah,  God  had  shut  that  door!  Their  cry  came  too  late. 
Not  a  solitary  man  outside  of  Noah's  family  believed  that  the 
last  year,  the  last  month,  the  last  week,  the  last  day  had  come. 
Ay  !  the  last  hour  and  the  last  minute.  Do  }'Ou  know  when  that 
minute  came?  Listen.  When  God  Almighty  came  down  and 
shut  the  door  of  the  ark.  He  shut  the  righteous  in,  and  shut  the 
wicked  out.  There  was  no  more  hope.  The  day  of  grace  was 
over.  The  doom  of  the  old  world  was  forever  sealed.  No 
angel,  no  man,  no  one  but  God  himself  shut  that  door.  It  was 
an  awful  fact. 

At  one  time  when  I  was  preaching  in  Boston,  a  business 
man  came  down  from  Maine  to  attend  one  of  the  meetings. 
He  was  late,  and  the  policeman  at  the  door  said  to  him,  "  You 
can't  get  in.  The  door  is  shut."  The  man  was  so  impressed 
by  that  utterance,  that  he  was  convicted  of  sin  and  was  con- 
verted. 

If  your  life  should  end  to-day,  would  you  die  inside  the  ark 
or  outside  ?  We  may  be  spending  our  last  year  on  earth.  The 
last  month  has  come  ;  the  last  week  is  coming,  and  to  every  one 
of  us  comes  the  last  day,  the  last  hour,  and  the  last  minute. 
It  is  coming  to  you,  young  man.     It  is  coming  to  you,  fathers 


528 


BRING    THE    CHILDRKX    IX. 


and  mothers ;  it  is  coming  to  me.  It  cannot  he  evaded.  Death 
is  on  your  track  and  mine. 

Do  you  know  wliy  I  took  this  text?  I  will  tell  )'ou.  It 
was  not  so  much  to  go  back  to  Noah's  time  as  to  come  down  to 
the  present  day.  I  took  it  because  I  want  to  say  a  few  words 
to  fathers  and  mothers.  I  want  to  ask,  fathers  and  mothers,  are 
\ou  in  the  kingdom  of  God  yourselves?  Are  you  sure  you  are 
in  the  ark?  If  not,  let  me  plead  with  you.  Don't  rest  until 
you  get  there.  The  door  stands  wide  open  ;  God  calls  you.  If 
you  have  children  that  are  not  in,  don't  rest  until  you  get  the 
whole  family  in.  Get  that  boy  of  yours  in.  Make  it  your 
business.  Mothers,  you  will  be  gone  by  and  by.  If  you  don't 
look  after  your  boys  while  you  are  living,  who  will  look  after 
them  when  you  are  dead  and  gone?  Father,  who  will  if  you 
do  not?  I  don't  believe  that  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  our  chil- 
dren should  wander  into  the  saloons ;  that  our  newspapers 
should  be  filled  with  such  reports  as  we  see  daily.  I  appeal  to 
every  Christian  father  and  mother.  Would  to  God  I  could 
wake  them  up,  and  have  them  get  their  children  into  the  ark. 

Some  years  ago  someone  sent  me  a  ])aper,  and  marked  the 
heading,  "  Are  All  The  Children  In  ? '"  The  article  was  about 
an  old  mother,  nearly  a  hundred  years  old.  Her  husband  was 
sitting  by  her  side,  as  she  lay  dying,  and  he  was  watching  the 
flickering  life  go  out,  when  all  at  once  she  opened  her  eyes,  and 
looked  around,  and  said  : 

"Why!    it  is  dark." 

'■  Yes,  dear.'" 

"  Is  it  night?  " 

"  Yes,  dear,  it  is  night."  . 

"  Arc  all  ihc  cJiihlrcii  i}\?  " 

That  dear  old  nujther  was  living  life  .over  again.  The 
youngest  child  had  been  in  his  grave  twenty  years ;  but  the  old 
father  and  husband  said : 

"  Yes,  wife,  they  are  all  in." 

And  then  she  fell  asleep  in  Christ.  Mothers,  are  all  the 
children  in  ?     Are  they  ? 


PARENTS    AND    CHILDREN. 


531 


I  never  yet  have  seen  a  truly  earnest  father  and  mother 
whose  hearts  were  set  upon  training  their  children  to  Christ, 
and  who  really  strove  to  have  their  children  come,  but  that 
those  children  were  saved.  The  impression  has  gone  out  that 
the  religion  of  the  parents  has  very  little  relation  to  the  religion 
of  their  children ;  that  the  children  of  pious  fathers  and 
mothers  are  sometimes  worse  than  those  of  other  people.  A 
man  who  had  heard  this  once  took  a  certam  district  and  can- 
vassed it,  and  got  the  names  of  every  family  in  the  district,  and 
the  stand  that  they  took  in  respect  to  religion  and  conduct. 
Where  he  found  both  the  father  and  mother  were  Christians,  he 
found  that  the  j:)roportion  of  the  children  over  ten  years  of  age 
who  were  professed  Christians  was  two-thirds  ;  where  he  found 
only  one  of  the  two  parents  a  Christian,  one-third  of  the 
children  over  that  age  were  church  members  ;  and  whefe  neither 
father  nor  mother  were  Christians,  only  one-twelfth  of  the  chil- 
dren were  Christians.  I  believe  if  we  are  only  consistent  in  our 
lives  we  shall  have  all  our  children  with  us  in  the  ark  at  last. 
Every  one  of  them  will  be  brought  into  the  ark,  if  we  pray  and 
work  earnestly  for  it. 

A  man  living  in  the  West  spent  all  his  time  and  energy  in 
accumulating  wealth.  He  wanted  to  buy  all  the  land  that  ad- 
joined his.  He  kept  on  buying  till  he  became  one  of  the  greatest 
land  proprietors  in  the  West.  One  day  his  son  was  brought 
home  in  an  unconscious  state,  and  after  the  doctor  had  ex- 
amined him,  he  turned  to  the  father,  and  said  : 

"  I  am  afraid  this  is  going  to  prove  fatal."  It  was  an  awful 
shock  to  the  father.     He  said  : 

"  I  can't  believe  he  is  going  to  die.  You  don't  think  he  is, 
do  you?  " 

"  Yes,  T  think  so." 

"  Will  he  never  regain  consciousness  ?" 

"  I  am  afraid  not." 

"  Oh !  I  cannot  have  him  die  without  speaking." 

At  length  consciousness  returned,  and  the  father  said  : 

"  My  son,  do  you  know  this  is  going  to  prove  fatal?  " 


532 


THE    PRAYERLESS    FATHER. 


"Father,  am  I  dying?" 

"  Yes,  the  doctor  says  so/' 

"  \\'ell,  father,  won't  you  pray  for  my  soul  ?  You've  never 
prayed  for  my  soul !     You've  never  prayed  for  my  soul !  " 

The  father  l^egan  to  weep,  and  said  he  could  not  pray.  In 
a  little  while  the  boy  was  again  unconscious,  and  that  night  he 
died.  A  friend  of  mine  said,  that  when  that  wealthy  man 
turned  away  from  the  g:  ave  of  his  son,  he  exclaimed  : 

"  If  I  could  call  him  back  and  make  one  prayer  for  him, 
I  would  willingly  give  all  I  have." 

Oh,  prayerless  fathers  and  mothers,  may  God  luring  you  on 
your  knees  before  Him  !  How  do  you  expect  \our  children 
will  be  saved  if  you  don't  pray,  or  set  them  an  example  ? 

A  gentleman  had  a  little  boy  who  was  very  sick.  When  he 
went  home  one  (la_\'  he  found  his  wife  weeping,  and  she  said  : 

"  Our  boy  is  dying  ;  he  has  had  a  change  for  the  worse.  I 
W'ish  you  would  go  in  and  see  him." 

The  father  went  into  the  room  and  placed  his  hand  upon  the 
brow  of  his  dying  boy,  and  he  could  feel  the  cold,  damp  sweat 
gathering  there  ;  the  icy  hand  of  death  was  feeling  for  the 
chords  of  life. 

"  Do  vou  know,  my  boy,  that  you  are  dying?  "  asked  the 
father. 

"  Am  I  ?  Is  this  death  ^     Do  you  really  think  I  am  dying?  " 

"  Yes,  my  son,  your  tnd  on  earth  is  near."  The  little  fel- 
low smiled  and  said : 

"Well,  father,  I  shall  l)e  with  Jesus  to-night,  shan't  I?" 

"  Yes,  you  will  socju  be  with  the  Saviour,"  and  the  father 
broke  down  and  wept. 

"  Father,  don't  you  weep,  for  when  I  get  there  I  will  go 
straight  to  Jesus  and  tell  ITim  that  all  my  life  you  have  been 
trying  to  lead  me  to  Him." 

My  friends,  come  into  the  ark.  Rear  in  mind  that  you 
are  to  come  iiozc.  I  canncjt  say  you  may  come  to-morrow.  I 
cannot  say  you  may  come  next  week.  T  do  not  know  what  may 
happen  before  then.     Oh,  will  you  not  be  gathered  into  the 


IN    THE    HOUR    OP'    DYING. 


533 


arl<  of  Christ  to-day?  Will  yon  not  this  very  day  erect  a 
family  altar,  and  call  your  children  around  you,  and  bid  them 
to  come  into  the  ark?  Thus  you  may  gather  them  all  in,  and 
you  will  have  them  w  ith  you  when  the  morning'  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion dawns,  and  when  Christ  shall  come  to  make  up  his  jewels. 

Are  }ou  in  the  ark  yourselves ?  Why  not  come  in  and  then 
try  to  bring  the  children  in  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  parents  are 
asleep,  and  while  we  are  asleep  our  children  are  wandering 
down  to  death.  We  hear  of  their  dying  every  day ;  we  hear 
of  their  being  suddenly  taken  away,  dying  outside  of  the  ark, 
while  we  as  parents  sleep  on.  If  there  seems  to  be  a  dark 
mountain  between  you  and  the  ark,  press  through  the  moun- 
tain. Though  it  is  a  mountain,  it  is  at  the  same  time  but  the 
devil's  mountain,  and  the  devil's  mountains  are  nothing  but 
smoke  and  fog.  Say  to  yourselves,  "  This  day  I  will  ^o  into 
the  ark  ;  this  day  I  will  call  my  children  in  ;  I  will  not  stay  out 
and  let  them  perish." 

A  young  woman  was  dying.  Her  father  and  mother  were 
wealthy.  They  had  brought  her  up  with  every  wish  gratified. 
She  had  lived  in  luxury.  Her  parents  bestowed  upon  her  all 
that  wealth  could  buy ;  but  at  last  she  was  taken  sick,  and 
when  she  drew  near  to  the  bank  of  the  river  she  said :  "  Father, 
mother,  won't  you  go  with  me,  it  is  dark  ?  "  They  wept  bitterly 
over  the  dying  girl,  but  they  told  her  they  could  not  go.  Then 
she  wanted  them  to  pray  for  her,  but  they  didn't  know  how  to 
pray.  The  father  and  mother  stood  at  her  bedside  and  sent  for 
a  minister,  but  it  was  too  late.  Wlien  he  arrived  she  was  dead. 
My  friends,  that  dark  hour  will  come  to  all  of  us.  We  must 
pass  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  and  if  we  have 
not  Christ  it  will  be  very  dark. 

\\'hen  I  was  in  Edinburgh,  I  was  pleading  with  the  people 
to  come  to  Christ.  A  young  lady  made  up  her  mind  she  would 
press  into  the  ark  of  God.  The  next  day  she  went  to  one  of  the 
ministers  and  said,  "Can't  you  give  me  something  to  do?" 
He  gave  her  some  tracts  to  distribute.  She  went  to  work  and 
distributed  the  tracts,  and  the  next  dav  she  came  to  the  meet- 


534  THE    GATE    THAT    STANDS    AJAR. 

ing  for  the  last  time.  The  next  morning  she  took  tlie  tram 
from  Edinburgh  to  Aberdeen,  to  go  home  to  her  widowed 
mother.  She  took  her  liymn-book  with  her,  and  on  her  way 
home  she  was  singing  from  it.  There  was  another  lady  in  the 
car  who  had  come  to  the  meeting  the  night  before,  and  had 
heard  about  Christ,  and  was  convicted  and  converted.  Tiiere 
was  a  collision,  and  the  young  convert  was  killed  instantlw  and 
the  other  girl  was  mortally  wounded.  She  had  her  h}nin- 
book  open  and  it  was  stained  with  her  blood.  As  she  was 
dying  she  was  heard  to  sing:  "  There  is  a  gate  that  stands 
ajar."  I  would  to  God  I  could  say  something  that  would  in- 
duce you  to  come  into  tlie  ark. 

"  TluTo  is  a  gate  that  stands  ajar. 
And  through  its  portals  gleaming, 
A  radiance  from  the  Cross  afar, 
The   Saviour's  love   revealing. 
Oh!  depth  of  mercy!  Can  it  be 
That  gate  was  left  ajar  for  me? 
For  me,  for  me? 
Was  left  ajar  for  me?  " 

The  gate's  ajar  for  you,  and  all  can  enter  who  will. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

THE    RICH    FOOL. 

The  Biblical  Meaning  of  "  Fool  "  —  Working  and  Planning  from  the 
Cradle  to  the  Grave  —  Living  for  this  World  Only — Pulling 
Down  the  Old  Barns  —  Making  Plans  for  the  Future  —  A  Visit 
at  the  Silent  Midnight  Hour  —  Pleading  With  Death  —  Stricken 
with  Grief  —  The  Epitaph  on  the  Monument  —  A  Terrible  Mis- 
lake  —  The  Mother  and  the  Little  Blind  Child  —  One  of  Mr. 
Moody's  Reminiscences  —  The  Sailor's  Pertinent  Question  —  A 
Mother's  Ambition  for  Her  Only  Son  —  The  Prickings  of  Con- 
science—  A  Promise  to  a  Dying  Mother  —  The  Graves  of  the 
Household  —  The  Heavenly  Vision  — "  Father,  Come  this  Way  " — 
The  Little  Beckoning  Hand  —  Looking  Across  the  River  — 
Where  will  You  be  Next  Year? 

OUR  Saviour  once  spoke  a  i)arable,  saying:  "The 
ground  of  a  certain  rich  man  brought  forth  plenti- 
fully :  And  he  thought  within  himself,  saying,  W'liat 
shall  I  do,  because  I  have  no  room  where  to  bestow  my  fruits? 
And  he  said,  This  will  I  do :  T  will  pull  down  my  barns,  and 
build  greater;  and  there  will  t  bestow  all  my  fruits  and  my 
goods.  And  I  will  say  to  my  soul.  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods 
laid  up  for  many  years  ;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  and  be 
merry.  Hut  God  said  unto  him,  Thou  fool,  this  night  thy  soul 
shall  be  required  of  thee :  then  whose  shall  those  things  be, 
which  thou  hast  provided?  " 

When  a  man  is  called  a  fool  in  the  Bible,  it  means  that  he 
lacks  spiritual  discernment;  or  that  he  is  living  without  (iod; 
or  that  he  makes  a  mock  of  sin  ;  or  that  he  says  in  his  heart 
"  there  is  no  God." 

This  man  was.  in  the  sight  of  men,  a  very  successful  man. 
He  was  one  whom  many  parents  would  hold  up  to  their  sons 

(535) 


536 


A    GOOD    BUSINESS    MAN. 


as  a  model.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  stood  well  in  the  com- 
munity where  he  lived. 

He  was  a  farmer,  and  1  don't  know  of  any  more  honorable 
occupation  than  that.  You  can't  find  any  fault  with  that  busi- 
ness. Now  there  are  some  things  he  was  not :  We  are  not 
told  that  he  was  a  dishonest  man,  or  untruthful,  or  that  he 
speculated  in  stocks,  or  that  he  brought  about  ])anics,  or  shaved 
notes ;  or  that  he  cheated  widows ;  or  that  he  got  up  corners 
on  grain  ;  or  that  he  paid  fifty  cents  on  a  dollar ;  or  rented  his 
property  for  drinking  saloons,  or  that  he  was  dishonest  in  any 
respect.  I  will  venture  to  say  that,  of  you  had  lived  near  him, 
you  would  have  heard  his  neighbors  speaking  very  highly  of 
him.  He  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  shrewd,  long-headed, 
upright  business  man.  He  had  some  good  live  stock  from 
Egypt  and  some  from  Syria.  No  man  gave  better  attention 
to  his  stock.  He  had  the  best  horses,  the  finest  flocks,  and  the 
best  sheep  that  could  be  found  in  the  valley.  His  farm  was 
well  kept  up;  it  was  adorned  with  beautiful  shade  trees  and 
lawns,  and  everything  was  trim  and  tidy. 

Perhaps  some  of  you  would  say,  "  That  man  is  good 
enough  ;  let  him  alone."  I  will  venture  to  say  that  if  he  had 
lived  in  New  England  he  would  have  been  a  leader,  an  elder, 
or  a  deacon  in  the  Church.  A  man  with  a  record  like  this,  — 
a  shrewd,  successful,  prosperous  man,  —  who  doesn't  get 
drunk,  against  whom  there's  nothing  to  be  said,  whose  "  word 
is  as  good  as  his  bond,"  whom  all  his  fellow  men  speak  well 
of,  may  be  called  a  "  good  "  man. 

And  yet  the  Saviour  called  this  man  a  POOL.  What's 
the  trouble  ?  It  strikes  me  that  tlie  trouble  is  right  here  :  That 
man  worked  and  planned  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  and 
lived  and  died  for  just  this  brief  life.  He  knew  nothing  about, 
and  cared  nothing  about,  another  life.  Death  and  eternity  had 
no  part  in  his  plans.  He  probably  went  to  church ;  and  he 
might  have  gone  to  Jerusalem  to  all  the  religious  feasts.  He 
gave  his  "  tenth  " ;  he  was  an  "  orthodox  "  Jew.  He  observed 
the  outward  forms,  because  that  gave  him  great  respectability. 


SUMMONED    BV    DKATII. 


537 


and  standing-,  and  position.  And  yet  the  Saviour  says  he  was  a 
FOOL. 

I  picture  this  man  in  his  drawing-room  one  night.  A 
master  builder  has  come  in  and  l^rought  some  plans.  The 
rich  man  is  going  to  take  down  all  his  old  barns  and  build 
greater.  Well,  there  is  no  harm  in  that.  It  is  a  great  deal 
better  to  build  good  barns  than  to  drink  them  up.  A  drink- 
ing man  would  Iku'c  druid<  up  the  whole  property.  How  his 
face  lights  up  as  he  talks  about  "  the  best  farm  in  the  whole 
valley."  He  is  going  to  have  the  best  barns  in  the  whole  valley 
of  the  Jordan.  His  wife  and  children  retire  ;  but  he  sits  up  past 
midnight  laying  plans.  He  is  going  to  build  his  barns  larger, 
and  then  say  to  his  soul,  "  Take  thine  ease." 

The  clock  strikes  the  hour  of  twelve.  But  the  rich  man 
is  too  much  interested  over  his  plans  to  sleep.  He  is  going  to 
sit  up  longer.  And  I  can  imagine,  after  midnight,  when  the 
servants  have  closed  all  the  doors  and  fastened  them  securely, 
and  the  house  is  quiet  and  still,  a  stranger  suddenly  makes  his 
appearance,  and  the  rich  farmer  looks  up  in  terror,  and  says : 

"  O  Death  !  You  haven't  come  to  call  me  away  so  sud- 
denly ?  " 

"  Yes.     This  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee." 

"  O  Death  !  do  not  take  me  so  soon  !  Let  me  have  a  little 
time  to  get  ready.  Let  me  have  a  little  time  to  set  my  house 
in  -order,  —  to  prepare  to  meet  my  God." 

"  Ah,  but  you  have  had  year  after  year,  and  the  time  is  up. 
You  must  go  to-night." 

"  O  Death !  stay  thy  hand.     Give  me  but  another  year." 

"  No,  you  can't  bribe  me." 

"  But  you  never  warned  me." 

"  Yes.  Your  father  is  gone,  and  he  died  younger  than  you. 
Your  mother  is  gone,  and  your  first-born.  Didn't  I  give  you 
warning  when  I  took  them  ?  You  have  attended  the  funerals 
of  your  neighbors  for  the  past  twenty-five  years.  I  ought  not 
to  be  a  stranger  to  you.  You  knew  I  was  coming,  but  you 
didn't  take  me  into  vour  calculations." 


538 


AN"    I'NAX'All.IXC.     IM.KA. 


But  ()  let  nic  call  my  family,  and  kt  iiu'  hid  them  adieu." 

"  Xo.     I  must  take  you  now." 

And  he  lays  his  cold  hand  upon  his  heart  and  it  ceases  to 
beat,  and  in  a  little  time  his  l)od\-  turns  cold  ;  liis  head  drops 
upon  his  breast,  and  he  is  dead.  His  wife  and  family  hear  no 
sound.  Death  has  come  in  so  silently  that  none  of  the  family 
have  heard  his  step.  The  morning  breaks,  and  the  servants 
])egin  to  move  around  that  hoiue.  And  the  servant  whose 
business  it  is  to. put  the  house  in  order  comes  into  the  drawing- 
,*room.  She  opens  the  door  and  she  sees  her  master  in  his 
chair,  and  says  : 

"  Oh,  my  master  is  asleej) ;  I'll  not  wake  him." 

lUit  soon  the  wife  awakes. 

"  Where  is  my  h.usband?  "  She  is  alanued.  She  calls  her 
servant.  ' 

"  Have  you  seen  the  master?" 

"  No." 

She  calls  the  servant  that  had  gone  to  the  drawing-room. 
"  ( )h.  yes,"  this  servant  says,  "  the  master  is  asleej).  He  fell 
aslee^iin  his  chair  last  night." 

The  wife  is  anxious  and  hastens  to  the  room,  and  puts  her 
han(j  on  her  husband's  forehead,  —  it  is  cold  as  marble.  He 
has' been  dead  for  hours.  The  alarm  soon  spreads  through 
the  house.  The  children  come  in  weepitig.  The  sorrowing 
neighbors  hasten  to  the  house  of  mourning.  In  that  hot 
country  they  cannot  keep  his  body,  and  that  same  day  they  lay 
him  away  in  his  grave.  Perhaps  an  oration  is  delivered,  and 
he  is  held  up  as  a  beacon  light  to  young  men,  that  they  may 
follow  in  the  footsteps  of  one  who  has  been  so  successful  in  this 
life.  It  may  be  tliat  they  erected  a  great  monuiuent  to  his 
memory:  but  an  angel  conies  down,  and  writes  ujion  that 
monument  one  word,  —  "FOOL." 

My  dear  friends,  if  you  could  see  what  ( lod  has  written 
ui)on  the  tombstones  in  cemeteries,  how  man_\-  tiiues  you 
w^ould  read  the  word  "  FOOT.." 

You  and  I  may  try  to  make  out  that  this  luan  was  wise,  a 


Till':    LITTLl-:    BLIND    CHILD. 


539 


man  to  be  held  up  as  an  example,  but  just  see  what  the  Son 
of  man  says  about  him.  He  says  such  a  man  is  an  abomina- 
tion to  God.  The  Son  of  man  says  :  "  ihou  h'ool."  He  wrote 
his  epitaph,  and  it  has  been  handed  down  to  us  as  a  warnini^. 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  mistake  that  this  man 
made,  —  that  of  neglecting-  his  soul's  salvation.  The  greatest 
calamities  of  life  come  upon  us  by  simple  neglect !  1  was  once 
in  the  Chicago  Eye  Infirmary  and  a  mother  came  in  with  her 
bab}-.  "  Doctor,"  She  said,  "  my  baby  hasn't  opened  his  eyes 
for  a  number  of  days.  T  did  not  like  to  open  them,  for  it 
seemed  to  hurt  him.  Will  you  see  what  the  trouble  is?  "  As 
the  doctor  took  the  little  one  and  lifted  its  eyelids  the  child 
screamed  with  pain.  He  said,  "  Your  child  is  blind.  He  will 
never  see  again!  "  And  when  the  terrible  truth  dawned  upon 
the  mother  there  came  a  wail  from  her  heart  that  made  the 
doctor  and  myself  weep ;  we  could  not  help  it.  She  pressed 
the  child  to  her  bosom,  —  "Oh,  will  my  darling  child  be 
blind?  \\"i\\  he  never  see  his  mother  again?  "  And  her  grief 
was  uncontrollable.  But  the  doctor  told  me  that  if  she  had 
brought  the  baby  there  a  few  days  before,  its  sight  could  have 
been  saved.  The  mother  had  neglected  the  child  until  it  was 
too  late.  There  is  not  a  mother  whose  heart  does  not  go  out 
with  pity  towards  this  aiTlicted  mother.  Rut  it  is  ten  thousand 
times  worse  to  neglect  a  child's  soul.  What  is  sight  in  com- 
parison with  the  soul?  Yes,  I  would  a  thousand  times  rather 
lose  my  sight  on  earth  and  see  God  in  Heaven,  than  have  my 
sight  here  and  darkness  beyond  the  grave. 

Many  years  ago  I  returned  to  my  native  town  to  live,  and 
my  mind  traveled  up  and  down  one  long  street,  and  I  fountl  that 
in  twenty  years  death  had  been  in  every  house.  There  was 
not  a  single  street  that  death  had  not  entered  ;  ni}-  own  house 
had  been  entered ;  every  neighbor's  house  up  and  down  the 
street  had  been  entered.  Ah,  how  many  homes  have  been 
entered  by  death  in  the  last  five,  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years? 
Had  we  not  better  prepare  for  death  ? 

A  sailor  was  telling  a  man  that  his  father  and  his  grand- 


540  A    PERTINENT    gUESTlUN. 

father  and  his  g^rcat-grandfather  \vcrc  all  drowned  at  sea,  and 
the  man  said  : 

"  Why  don't  yon  prepare  to  die ;  you,  too,  may  be  drowned 
any  day !  " 

"Where  did  your  father  die?"  inquired  the  sailor. 

"  On  land." 

"And  your  grandfather?" 

"  On  land." 

"  Are  you  prepared  to  die  ?  " 

"  Well,  no." 

"  Why  don't  yoii  prepare  for  death?  "  asked  the  sailor. 

The  man  didn't  think  that  he  was  in  danger  himself,  but 
only  that  the  sailor  was. 

What  are  you  living  for?  What  is  }our  aim  ?  Is  it  to  buy 
and  sell?  To  accumulate  money?  To  die  a  millionaire?  Some 
time  ago  a  man  of  means  married  a  Christian  woman.  They 
had  one  child.  The  man  died.  He  had  been  very  liberal,  but 
after  his  death  the  widow  hoarded  up  the  money,  and  said, 
"  My  mission  now  is  to  have  my  boy  a  millionaire  when  he 
is  twenty-one."     That  was  a  pretty  low  aim,  wasn't  it? 

I  venture  to  say  there  is  no  person  who  is  not  living  under 
some  broken  vow.  In  some  hour  of  your  life  _\'ou  made  a  vow, 
but  you  haven't  kept  it.  I^ven  now  }our  conscience  reminds 
you  of  that  hour  when  you  made  a  promise.  It  might  have 
been  at  the  midniglit  Ikhu-.  rerha])s  a  ra])  came  to  your  door, 
and  you  were  awakened  out  of  a  sound  slee])  to  be  told  tliat 
your  mother  was  dying.  When  you  reached  her  bedside  she 
was  conscious,  and  she  told  you  she  was  going  to  another 
world  ;  and  she  took  your  hand,  and  \ou  promised  to  meet  her 
in  Heaven.  You  shed  many  tears  at  her  grave,  and  you  told 
the  minister  that  you  would  be  a  Christian.  Are  there  not 
many  who  have  made  such  a  vow?  When  your  wife  was 
taken  from  you,  didn't  you  say,  "  I  can't  call  her  back,  but  I 
will  serve  her  God."  When  vour  child  was  taken  from  you 
didn't  you  make  some  vow  of  that  kind  ? 

Life  seems  to  me  now  like  going  up  a  hill  and  (hen  coming 


GRAVKS  THAT  MARK  THE  WAY. 


541 


down ;  we  go  up  the  hill  slowly,  but  we  come  down  very  fast. 
Days  fly  away  now  like  hours.  A  week  glides  away  like  a 
day.  Months  seem  like  weeks.  Look  back  at  the  cradle 
from  whence  )ou  started.  It  seems  only  a  little  while  ago,  but 
as  you  look  down  the  hill  you  see  a  tombstone.  It  marks  the 
resting-place  of  some  loved  member  of  your  family.  You 
stood  by  that  open  grave  and  took  a  solemn  vow.  You 
promised  yourself  and  \our  friends  that  you  would  lead  a  dif- 
ferent life  from  that  time  on.  Why  not  pay  your  vows  now? 
Why  not  say,  "  I  will !  God  helping  me,  I  will  keep  that  vow. 
I  will  make  it  good  to-day."  But  you  mark  another  grave. 
It  is  not  that  of  mother  or  father,  but  a  little  short  grave.  A 
little  child  came  into  your  home  and  lived  for  a  few  years,  and 
was  the  joy  of  your  home ;  like  the  ivy  twining  around  the  oak 
it  twined  itself  around  your  iieart.  Then  death  came  and  took 
the  little  one,  and  a  solemn  feeling  came  over  you,  and  you 
said,  "  I  cannot  call  my  child  back,  but  I  will  go  to  meet  him." 
Didn't  you  make  such  a  promise  ?     Are  you  keeping  that  vow  ? 

I  remember,  a  great  many  years  ago,  I  went  from  Chicago 
to  a  little  town  to  try  to  preach.  A  Sunday-school  convention 
was  being  held  there  at  the  time.  I  was  a  perfect  stranger  in 
the  place,  and  on  my  arrival,  a  man  stepped  up  and  asked  me 
if  my  name  was  Moody.  I  told  him  it  was,  and  he  invited  me 
to  his  house.  After  escorting  me  to  his  home  he  excused  him- 
self, saying  that  he  had  to  attend  the  convention,  and  he  asked 
me  to  excuse  his  wife  also,  as  she,  not  having  a  servant,  had 
to  attend  to  her  household  duties.  So  he  left  me  in  the  parlor 
and  told  me  to  amuse  myself  as  best  I  could  till  he  came  back. 
The  room  was  dark,  and  I  could  not  read,  and,  getting  a  little 
tired,  I  thought  I  would  try  and  get  the  children  of  the  house- 
hold and  play  with  them.  I  listened  for  the  sound  of  child- 
hood in  the  house,  but  could  not  hear  a  single  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  little  ones.     A\'hen  my  friend  returned  I  said  : 

"  Haven't  you  any  children  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  I  have  one,  but  she's  in  Heaven,  and  I 
am  glad  she  is  there,  Moody." 

33 


542 


A   BEREAVED    FATHERS    AXGUISH. 


"  What !  glad  that  your  child  is  dead  ?  " 
x  es. 

"  How  is  that  ?  Was  she  deformed,  or  was  anything  wrong 
with  her?" 

"  No,  she  was  as  perfect  as  could  be ;  "  and  he  brought  me 
a  portrait  of  a  beautiful  girl,  with  golden  curls  falling  down 
her  neck,  and  she  looked  more  like  an  angel  than  a  child.  I 
asked  how  old  she  was. 

"  Seven." 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  saying  you  arc  glad  she  is  in 
heaven  ? " 

"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  worshiped  that  child ;  I  was  making 
money  for  her ;  she  was  the  idol  of  my  heart.  One  day  she 
was  taken  ill,  and  in  a  few  days  she  died.  She  melted  away 
like  a  snowflakc.  I  accused  God  of  being  unjust,  and  refused 
to  be  reconciled.  I  would  have  torn  God  from  His  throne  if 
I  could.  For  three  days  and  nights  I  neither  ate.  nor  drank, 
nor  slept.  I  was  almost  mad.  On  the  third  da}'  I  buried  her, 
and  when  I  came  home  my  house  and  my  heart  were  as  deso- 
late and  dark  as  the  grave.  I  had  lost  my  child.  As  I  walked 
up  and  down  the  room  almost  frantic  I  thought  I  heard  the 
voice  of  my  little  one,  but  I  said,  '  No,  it  cannot  be;  that  voice 
is  hushed  forever.'  Then  I  thought  I  heard  her  little  feet  com- 
ing towards  me,  and  I  said,  '  No,  I  shall  never  hear  those  little 
feet  again.'  Before  that  time  I  had  not  wept ;  my  agony  had 
been  too  great,  but  now  I  threw  myself  on  the  bed  and  began 
to  weep.  Nature  gave  way  and  I  fell  asleep.  I  suppose  I  had 
a  dream,  but  it  has  always  seemed  like  a  vision  that  God  gave 
me  —  a  vision  and  a  voice.  I  thought  I  was  crossing  a  barren 
field,  and  I  came  to  a  river  that  looked  so  cold  and  dreary  that 
I  drew  back  from  it ;  but,  looking  across,  I  saw  the  most  beauti- 
ful land  my  eyes  had  ever  rested  upon.  And  I  thought  sick- 
ness and  death  never  entered  that  land.  Oh,  T  would  like  to  be 
in  a  land  where  death  cannot  come ;  where  there  is  no  separa- 
tion, no  parting!  Then  T  saw  a  company  on  the  other  side, 
and  among  them  my  darling  child.     She  came  to  the  bank  of 


"COME    RKtHT    this    WAY,    FATHER.' 


543 


the  river,  and  waving  her  little  angel  hand,  said,  '  Father,  come 
right  this  way ;  it  is  so  beautiful  here.'  I  went  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  thought  I  would  plunge  in,  but  it  was  too  deep  for 
nic  —  I  could  not  swim.  I  thought  I  would  give  anything  to 
cross.  I  tried  to  find  a  boat,  but  there  was  none.  I  looked 
for  a  bridge,  but  there  was  none  ;  and  while  I  was  wandering  up 
and  down  the  little  angel  voice  came  across  the  stream,  '  Come 
right  this  way,  father ;  it  is  beautiful  here !  '  All  at  once  I 
heard  a  voice  as  if  it  came  from  heaven,  saying,  '  I  am  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  No  man  cometli  unto  the 
Father  but  by  Me.'  The  voice  awoke  me  from  sleep.  I 
thought  it  was  God  calling  me,  and  that  if  I  would  ever  see 
my  child  again  I  must  come  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
That  night  I  knelt  beside  my  bed  and  gave  myself  to  God. 
Now  I  no  longer  look  upon  my  child  as  sleeping  in  her  grave, 
but  I  see  her  in  that  beautiful  land,  and  every  night  when  I  lie 
down  I  see  her  beckoning  me  heavenward,  and  I  hear  her  sweet 
voice  saying,  '  Come  right  this  way,  father,'  and  every  morning 
I  hear  her  repeating  the  same  words.  Now  my  wife  is  a  Chris- 
tian ;  I  am  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school,  and  eighty- 
one  children  have  been  converted,  and  I  am  trying  to  get  as 
many  converted  as  I  can  to  go  with  me  to  heaven." 

A  father  was  on  his  death-bed,  and  he  called  in  his  son. 
The  boy  was  careless ;  he  would  not  take  death  into  account. 
He  wanted  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  life,  and  he  took  no  heed 
of  the  future.  The  father  said  :  "  My  son,  I  want  to  ask  you 
one  favor.  Promise  me  that  when  I  am  dead  you  will  come 
into  this  room  for  five  minutes  every  day  for  thirty  days.  You 
are  to  come  alone,  not  to  bring  a  book  with  you  ;  and  sit  here." 
The  young  man  promised  to  do  it.  The  father  died.  The  first 
thing  the  boy  thought  of  when  he  went  into  that  room  was  his 
father's  prayers,  his  father's  words,  and  his  father's  God, 
and  before  the  five  minutes  expired  he  was  crying  out,  "  God, 
be  merciful  to  mc." 

Tt  seems  to  me  if  T  could  get  men  to  ask  themselves. 
"What  is  going  to  be  my  end?"     "Where  am  I  going  to 


544 


COME    TO    IIIM    TO-DAY 


spend  eternity?  "  it  would  not  be  long  before  they  would  come 
to  Christ.  You  may  be  moralists,  you  may  be  proprietors  of 
a  prosperous  business,  you  may  be  what  the  world  calls  suc- 
cessful men,  yet,  Where  are  you  going  to  spend  eternity?  Can 
you  tell  me  where  you  will  be  next  year?  Can  you  tell  me 
where  you  will  be  ten  years  hence? 

Am  I  speaking  to  mothers  whose  children  have  been  taken 
from  them?  If  they  could  speak  from  that  world  of  light  they 
would  say,  "  Mother,  come  this  way."  Am  I  speaking  to 
fathers  whose  children  have  gone  across  the  river?  If  these 
departed  little  ones  could  speak  they  would  beckon  and  say, 
"  Father,  come  this  way."  Nineteen  hundred  years  ago  our 
Saviour  crossed  that  river.  May  He  help  you  to  come  to  Him 
to-day ! 


CHAPTER   XXX. 

INFIDELS     AND     INFIDELITY. 

Sending  His  Daughter  From  t'lc  Room  —  "  I  Did  not  Think  it  Would 
do  Her  any  Good  to  Hear  What  I  Said"  —  A  Crooked  Path  — 
A  Son  Gone  Astray  —  "  Father,  I  Am  Dying  "  —  "  What  is  to 
Become  of  Me?  "  — Farewell  Forever — Full  Inspiration  of  the 
Bible  —  Crying  for  Mercy  —  A  Broken-hearted  Wife  —  The  Dying 
Infidel  — ••  What  Have  I  Got  to  Hold  On  To?"  — Last  Words 
of  Lord  Byron  and  St.  Paul  —  A  Wife's  Request  —  Mr.  Moody's 
Visit  to  an  Infidel  —  Laughed  at  for  His  Pains  —  Asking  for  Just 
One  Favor  —  "When  I  Am  Converted  I  Will  Let  You  Know"  — 
After  Thoughts  —  A  Mental  Struggle  —  A  Night  of  Agony  — 
"Try  Your  Hand  On  Me"  —  Remarkable  Answer  to  Prayer  — 
Eighteen  Infidels  Converted. 

S()i\IE  time  ago  I  went  into  a  man's  house,  and  when  I 
began  to  talk  about  reHgion  he  turned  to  his  daughter 
and  said: 
"  You  had  better  go  out  of  the  room ;  I  want  to  say  a  few 
words  to  ]\Ir.  Aloody."     \\'hen  she  had  gone  he  opened  a  per- 
fect torrent  of  infidelity  upon  me. 

"  Why,"  said  I,  "  did  yott  send  your  daughter  oitt  of  the 
room  before  you  said  this?" 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  I  did  not  think  it  would  do  her  any 
good  to  hear  what  I  said." 

My  friends,  his  rock  was  not  as  our  Rock.  Why  did  he 
send  his  daughter  out  of  the  room  if  he  believed  what  he  said? 
It  was  because  he  did  not  believe  it.  Why,  if  I  believed  in  in- 
fidelity I  would  wish  my  daughters  and  my  sons,  my  wife,  and 
all  belonging  to  me,  to  be  sharers  in  the  same  belief.  I  would 
preach  it  wherever  I  went.  But  infidels  doubt  what  they  ad- 
vocate.    If  they  believe  it,  why.  when  their  daughters  die,  do 

(545) 


546  >>'0    HOPE    FOR    THE    FUTURE. 

they  send  for  a  true  Christian  to  administer  consolation? 
\\'h_v,  wlien  they  make  their  last  will,  do  they  appoint  a  Chris- 
tian to  carry  it  out?  It  is  because  their  rock  has  no  founda- 
tion; it  is  because  in  the  hour  of  affliction  or  adversity,  in  spite 
of  all  their  boasts  of  the  grandeur  of  infidclitv,  they  cannot 
trust  their  infidel  friends.  "  Their  r(xdx-  is  not  as  our  Rock, 
even  our  enemies  themselves  being  judges." 

An  atheist  denies  the  existence  of  God.  I  contend  that  his 
rock  is  not  as  our  Rock,  and  will  let  atheists  be  the  judges. 
What  does  an  atheist  look  forward  to?  Nothing.  He  is 
taking  a  very  crooked  path  in  this  world.  His  life  has  been 
dark  and  full  of  disappointments.  When  he  was  a  young  man 
ambition  beckoned  him  on  to  a  certain  height.  He  has  at- 
tained to  that  height,  but  he  is  not  satisfied.  He  climbs  a  little 
higher,  and  perhaps  he  has  got  as  far  as  he  can  go,  but  he  is 
still  dissatisfied,  and  if  he  takes  a  look  into  the  future  he  sees 
nothing.  Man's  life  is  full  of  trouble.  Afflictions  are  as 
numerous  as  the  hairs  of  our  heads,  but  when  the  billows  of 
trouble  and  adversity  are  rising  and  rolling  over  him  an  atheist 
has  no  God  to  call  upon  ;  therefore,  I  contend,  his  rock  is  not 
as  our  Rock. 

An  atheist  has  all  the  natural  affection  it  is  possible  for  a 
father  to  have  for  his  children.  He  has  a  son  —  a  noble  young 
man  —  who  starts  out  in  life  full  of  promise,  but  he  has  not 
the  will-power  of  his  father,  and  cannot  resist  the  temptations 
of  the  world,  and  he  goes  astray.  That  father  cannot  call 
upon  God  to  save  his  son.  He  sees  him  go  down  to  ruin  step 
by  step,  and  by  and  by  he  ])lunges  into  a  hopeless,  godless, 
Christless  grave;  and  as  the  father  looks  into  that  grave  he 
has  no  hope.     His  rock  is  not  as  our  Rock. 

Look  at  him  again.  He  has  a  daughter  lying  low  with 
fever  and  racked  with  pain,  but  the  poor  atheist  cannot  offer 
her  consolation.     As  he  stands  by  her  bedside  she  says: 

"  Father,  I  am  dying;  in  a  little  while  I  shall  be  in  another 
world.  What  is  going  to  become  of  me?  Am  I  going  to  die 
like  a  dumb  beast?  " 


CRYING    TO    THE    CHRISTIAN'S    GOD  547 

\\'ould  an  atheist  say:  "Yes,  I  love  you,  my  daughter; 
but  you  will  soon  be  in  the  grave  and  eaten  up  by  worms,  and 
that  will  be  the  end.  There  is  no  heaven,  no  hereafter;  it  is 
all  a  myth.  People  have  been  telling  you  there  is  a  hereafter, 
but  they  have  been  deceiving  you." 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  an  atheist  telling  his  dying  child  such 
monstrous  stuff  as  that?  My  friends,  when  the  dark  hour  of 
affliction  comes  they  call  in  a  Christian  minister  to  give  con- 
solation. Why  does  not  the  atheist  preach  no  hereafter,  no 
heaven,  no  God,  in  the  hour  of  affliction? 

But  there  is  another  class  called  deists,  who  don't  believe 
in  revelation  —  who  don't  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.  Ask  a 
deist  who  is  his  God.  "  Well,"  he  will  say,  "  He  is  the  begin- 
ning—  he  who  caused  all  things."  These  deists  say  it  is  of 
no  use  to  pray,  because  nothing  can  change  the  decrees  of 
their  deity;  God  never  answers  prayer.  Their  rock  is  not  as 
our  Rock.  In  the  hour  of  affliction  they,  too,  send  for  a 
Christian  minister  to  administer  consolation. 

But  there  is  another  class.  They  say,  "  I  am  no  deist;  I 
am  a  pantheist;  I  believe  that  God  is  in  the  air;  in  the  sun,  in 
the  stars,  in  the  water."  When  we  talk  to  pantheists  we  find 
them  no  better  than  deists  and  atheists.  It  was  one  of  this 
sort  that  Sir  Isaac  Newton  used  to  talk  to.  He  argued  with 
him,  and  tried  to  win  the  pantheist  over  to  his  belief,  but  he 
couldn't.  In  the  hour  of  his  distress,  however,  he  cried  out  to 
the  God  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  Why  don't  they  cry  to  their 
own  God  in  the  hour  of  trouble.  I  used  to  be  called  on  to 
attend  a  good  many  funerals.  I  would  inquire  what  was  the 
man's  belief.  If  he  was  an  atheist,  or  a  deist,  or  a  pantheist, 
and  if,  at  the  funeral  or  In  the  presence  of  his  friends,  I  said 
one  word  about  that  man's  doctrine,  they  would  feel  insulted. 
Why  is  it  that,  in  the  trying  hour  of  affliction,  after  they  have 
been  talking  all  the  time  against  God,  they  then  call  upon  be- 
lievers in  that  God  to  administer  consolation? 

An  infidel's  rock  it  not  as  our  Rock.  He  doesn't  believe 
in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible.     These  men  are  very  numerous, 


548 


MEN    WHO    DOUBT    THE    TRUTH    OF    THE    BIBLE. 


and  they  feel  insulted  when  we  call  them  infidels;  but  the  man 
who  does  not  believe  in  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  is  an  in- 
fidel. A  good  many  of  them  are  in  the  church,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  have  crept  into  the  pulpit.  These  men  would  feel  in- 
sulted if  we  called  them  infidels,  but  if  a  man  says  —  and  I 
don't  care  who  he  is  or  where  he  preaches  —  that  the  Bible 
is  not  inspired,  he  is  an  infidel.  That  is  their  true  name, 
although  they  don't  like  to  be  called  by  it.  Now  in  the  Bible 
there  are  five  hundred  or  six  hundred  prophecies,  and  every 
one  of  them  has  been  fulfilled  to  the  letter;  and  yet  men  say 
they  cannot  believe  the  Bible  is  inspired.  Those  who  cannot 
believe  it  have  never  read  it.  I  have  heard  a  great  many 
infidels  talk  against  the  Bible,  but  I  haven't  found  the  first 
man  who  ever  read  the  Bible  through  carefully  that  remained 
an  infidel. 

I  was  once  trying  to  influence  an  infidel  in  my  town,  and 
I  finally  got  him  to  promise  to  read  the  New  Testament.  I 
met  him  a  few  days  afterwards  and  said  to  him: 

"  How  do  you  get  on  with  that  book?  " 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  John 
the  Baptist  is  a  greater  character  than  Jesus  Christ;  why  don't 
you  preach  in  John  the  Baptist's  name?  " 

"  Well,  I  will  start  ofY  preaching  in  Christ's  name,  and  you 
start  out  preaching  in  John's  name,  and  see  how  we  get  on." 

"  Oh,  people  are  superstitious,  and  they  believe  that  Christ 
was  divine,  and  all  that  kind  of  thing,  and  you  would  do  more 
good  than  I  would." 

"  Well,  I  will  tell  you  the  difl'erence  between  the  two:  they 
beheaded  John  and  put  his  body  in  the  grave,  and  he  hasn't 
got  out  of  that  grave  yet ;  but  Christ  w^nt  into  the  grave  and 
rose  again.     We  worship  a  living  Christ,  not  a  dead  Christ." 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  Christian  recanting  in  his  dying 
hour?  You  never  did.  Did  you  ever  hear  of  Christians  re- 
gretting that  they  had  accepted  Christianity,  and  in  their  dying 
hours  embracing  infidelity?  I  would  like  to  see  the  man  who 
could  say  he  had.     But  how  many  times  have  Christians  been 


WHAT    INFIDELITY    DOES. 


549 


called  to  the  bedside  of  an  atheist,  or  a  deist,  or  an  infidel  in 
his  dying  hours,  and  heard  him  crying  for  mercy?  In  that 
hour  infidelity  is  gone,  and  he  wants  the  God  of  his  father  and 
mother  to  take  the  place  of  his  atheism. 

What  does  infidelity  do  for  a  man?  "Why,"  said  a 
dying  infidel,  "my  principles  have  lost  me  my  friends;  they 
have  sent  my  wife  to  her  grave  with  a  broken  heart;  they  have 
made  my  children  beggars,  and  I  am  going  down  to  my  grave 
without  peace  or  consolation."  I  never  heard  of  an  infidel 
going  down  to  his  grave  happily.  How  many  young  men  are 
turned  away  from  Christ  by  them?  Let  infidels  remember 
that  God  will  hold  them  responsible. 

A  few  infidels  once  gathered  around  one  of  their  dying 
friends,  and  they  wanted  him  to  hold  on  to  the  end  and  die 
like  a  man.  They  were  trying  to  cheer  him,  but  the  poor  in- 
fidel turned  to  them  and  said:  "  Ah,  what  have  I  got  to  hold 
on  to?  "  My  friends,  let  me  ask  what  have  you  got  to  hold 
on  to?  Every  Christian  has  Christ  to  hold  on  to  —  the  resur- 
rected man.  Thank  God,  we  have  some  one  to  carry  us 
through  all  our  trials.  But  what  has  the  infidel  got  to  hold 
on  to;  what  hope  has  the  atheist,  the  deist,  or  the  pantheist? 
I  want  to  draw  a  comparison  between  almost  the  last  words 
of  Lord  Byron,  and  those  of  Saint  Paul.  Byron  died  very 
young  —  he  was  only  thirty-six  —  after  leading  an  ungodly 
life,  and  here  are  some  of  his  last  words: 

"  Aly  days  are  in  the  yellow  leaf, 

The  flower  and  fruit  of  life  are  gone; 
The  worm,  the  canker,  and  the  grief 
Are   mine   alone." 

Compare  these  words  with  those  of  St.  Paul:  "I  have 
fought  a  good  fight,  T  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith:  Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  right- 
eousness which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me 
at  that  day."     What  a  contrast!     What  a  difference! 

As  I  was  coming  out  of  a  daily  prayer-meeting  in  one  of 
our  Western  cities  a  lady  came  up  to  me  and  said: 


550 


THE    SKEPTIC'S    SNEER. 


"  I  want  you  to  ask  my  husband  to  come  to  Christ." 

I  took  out  my  memorandum  book  and  put  down  his  name. 
She  said: 

"  I  woultl  Hkc  to  liave  you  go  and  see  him." 

I  recognized  the  name  as  that  of  a  learned  judge,  and  so 
I  said  to  her: 

"  I  can't  argue  with  him.  He  is  a  good  deal  older  than 
I  am,  and  it  would  be  out  of  place.  Then,  I  am  not  much  on 
an  infidel  argument." 

"  Well,  Mr.  Moody,"  she  said,  "  that  is  not  what  lie  wants. 
He's  had  enough  of  that.  Just  ask  him  to  come  to  the 
Saviour." 

She  urged  me  so  hard  that  I  consented  to  go.  I  went  to 
the  ofifice  of  the  judge,  and  told  him  what  I  had  come  for.  He 
laughed  at  me. 

"  You  are  very  foolish,"  he  said,  and  he  began  to  argue 
with  me.  "  I  don't  think  it  will  be  profitable  for  me  to  hold 
an  argument  with  you,"  I  said.  "  I  have  just  one  favor  I  want 
to  ask,  and  that  is  that  when  you  are  converted  you  will  let 
me  know." 

"  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  will  do  that.  When  I  am  converted  I 
will  let  }ou  know  "  —  with  a  good  deal  of  sarcasm.  I  thought 
the  prayers  of  that  wife  would  be  answered  if  mine  were  not. 

A  year  and  a  half  after,  I  was  in  that  city  again,  and  a 
servant  came  to  my  door  and  said: 

"  There  is  a  man  in  the  drawing-room  waiting  to  see  you." 
I  found  the  judge  there.     He  said: 

"  I  promised  I  would  let  you  know  when  I  was  converted." 

I  had  heard  it  from  other  lips,  but  I  wanted  to  hear  it  from 
his  own.  He  said  his  wife  went  out  to  a  meeting  one  night 
and  he  was  at  home  alone,  and  while  sitting  by  the  fire  he 
thought,  "  Suppose  my  wife  is  right,  and  my  children  are 
right;  suppose  there  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell,  and  I  shall  be 
separated  from  them."  His  first  thought  was,  "  T  don't  be- 
lieve a  word  of  it."  The  second  thought  was.  "  The  God  that 
created  me  is  able  to  teach  me,  and  give  me  life."     He  was 


STRUG('.LIN<i    INTO    THK    LKiHT. 


551 


too  proud  to  get  clown  on  his  knees,  but  he  said,  "  O  God, 
teach  me."  "  And  as  I  prayed,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  understand 
it,  but  it  began  to  grow  very  dark,  and  my  lieart  became 
heavy.  \\'hen  my  wife  returned  I  was  afraid  to  tell  lier  what 
had  happened,  so  I  pretended  to  be  asleep.  She  knelt  down 
beside  the  bed,  and  I  knew  she  was  praying  for  me.  I  kept 
crying,  "  O  God,  teach  me.'  I  had  to  change  my  prayer,  '  O 
God,  save  me;  O  God,  take  away  this  burden.'  But  it  grew 
darker  and  darker,  and  the  load  grew  heavier  and  heavier. 
The  next  morning. all  the  way  to  my  of^ce  I  kept  crying,  '  O 
God,  take  away  this  load.'  I  gave  my  clerks  a  holiday,  closed 
my  of^ce  and  locked  the  door.  I  fell  down  on  my  knees  and 
cried  in  agony.  'O  God.  for  Christ's  sake,  take  away  this  guilt.' 
I  don't  know  how  it  was,  but  it  began  to  grow  very  light.  I 
said,  I  wonder  if  this  isn't  what  they  call  conversion.  I  think 
I  will  go  and  ask  the  minister  if  I  am  not  converted."  He  said 
to  me  : 

"  ]\Ir.  jNIoody,  I  have  enjoyed  life  in  the  last  three  months 
more  than  all  the  rest  of  my  life  put  together." 

The  judge  did  not  believe;  the  wife  did;  and  God  honored 
her  faith  and  saved  that  man.  The  old  judge  went  to  Spring- 
field, 111.,  and  stood  up  in  public  and  told  politicians  what  God, 
for  Christ's  sake,  had  done  for  him. 

There  is  not  a  heart  so  hard  that  God  cannot  touch  it. 
While  in  Edinburgh  a  man  was  pointed  out  to  me  by  a  friend, 
who  said: 

"  Moody,  that  man  is  chairman  of  the  Edinburgh  infidel 
club."     So  I  sat  down  beside  him,  and  said: 

"  Well,  my  friend,  I  am  glad  to  see  you  at  this  meeting. 
Are  you  not  concerned  about  your  future  welfare?  " 

"  I  don't  believe  in  a  hereafter."  he  said. 

"  Well,  you  just  get  down  on  your  knees  and  let  me  pray 
for  you." 

"  I  don't  believe  in  prayer."  he  replied. 

I  tried  unsuccessfully  to  get  him  down  on  his  knees,  and 
finally  I  knelt  down  beside  him  and  prayed  for  him.     Well, 


55^ 


THK    PRAVKR    ANSWERED. 


he  made  a  good  deal  of  sport  over  it,  and  I  met  him  aj^ain 
many  times  in  Edinburgh  after  that.  Some  time  afterwards, 
while  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  I  met  him  again.  Placing  my 
hand  on  his  shoulder,  I  said: 

"  Hasn't  God  answered  that  jn-ayer?  " 

"  There  is  no  God,"  he  replied,  "  I  am  just  the  same  as  I 
always  have  been.  If  }OU  believe  in  a  God,  and  in  answer  to 
pra}'er,  do  as  T  told  you.     Try  your  hand  on  me." 

"  \\\'ll."  I  said,  "  God's  time  will  come;  there  are  a  great 
many  praying  for  you;  and  I  have  faith  .to  l)clieve  you  are 
going  to  be  blessed." 

A  few  months  afterwards  I  was  in  Liverpool,  and  while 
there  I  received  a  letter  from  a  leading  barrister  of  Edin- 
burgh, telling  me  that  my  friend,  the  infidel,  had  come  to 
Christ,  and  that  of  his  club  of  thirty  men  seventeen  had  fol- 
lowed his  example.  How  it  ha])pencd  he  could  not  say.  but 
whereas  he  was  once  blind,  now  he  could  see.  God  answered 
the  prayer.  I  didn't  know  how  it  was  to  be  answered,  but  I 
believed  it  would  be  and  it  was  done. 

Let  us  have  the  spirit  of  His  Word,  and  if  we  understand 
it  we  can  meet  these  infidels.  IVople  talk  about  studying 
books  to  meet  them.  All  we  want  is  the  Word  of  God.  It 
will  cut  down  deep.  Thcv  may  fight  and  kick  and  talk  (some 
of  them  will  even  swear),  but  just  give  them  the  Word,  and 
the  Spirit  will  do  its  own  work.  I  have  known  men  to  come 
into  the  inquiry-room  just  to  talk  and  discuss  and  get  up  an 
argument.  Well,  I  generally  take  the  l')il)le  and  give  them  a 
few  verses.  "  But,"  they  say.  "  I  don't  believe  the  Bible."  I 
give  them  more  verses  and  they  say  the  same  thing.  But  T 
just  keep  on  giving  them  verses.  It  is  God's  own  Word.  T 
am  no  match  for  infidels,  but  this  Word  is;  this  Book  tells  all 
about  them.  There  have  been  infidels  fnr  six  hundred  }ears, 
and  probably  will  be  until  the  millennium;  but,  thank  God, 
there  won't  be  any  tlien. 

When  W^ilmot,  the  great  infidel,  lay  dying,  he  put  his  hand 
Upon    the    Bible   and    said:     "  The    only    thing    against    that 


condemnp:!)  bv  tiiI':   ninLE. 


553 


Book  is  a  bad  life."  When  a  man  has  got  a  bad  record  against 
him,  lie  wants  to  get  that  Book  out  of  the  way,  because  it 
condemns  him;  that  is  the  trouble.  The  trouble  is  not  with 
the  Bible;  it  is  with  your  record  and  mine.  Because  that 
Book  condemns  sin  we  want  to  get  it  out  of  the  way.  Men 
do  not  like  to  be  condemned;  that  is  the  trouble. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

BACKSLIDERS    AND     BACKSLIDING. 

People  Who  Have  "  Never  Slid  Forward  "  —  Mr.  Moody's  Theology  — 
The  Cause  of  Hard  Times  —  The  Curse  of  Tobacco  and  Whis- 
key—  "I  Have  Had  a  Bitter  Time"  —  Mr.  Moody  and  the  Old 
Backslider  —  An  Incident  of  the  Civil  War  —  A  Father  Searching 
the  Hospitals  for  His  Son — "  John  Thompson,  Your  Father  Wants 
You"  —  Peculiarities  of  Backsliders  —  Pretexts  and  Excuses  — 
Bad  Husbands  and  Wretched  Wives  —  Story  of  the  Boy  in  "the 
Bush"  —  An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  London  Experience  —  A 
Man  and  His  Four  Photographs  —  Advertising  Himself  as  a 
"Prominent  Worker"  —  Sneaking  Home  —  An  Incident  on  the 
Tennessee  River  —  "  O,  For  a  Drink  of  Water  from  My  Father's 
Well!"  —  An  Incident  on  the  Plains. 

THERE  are  people  who  call  themselves  backsliders,  who, 
as  some  old  divine  said,  "  never  slid  forward."  They 
unite  with  the  church  thinking  that  it  will  lead  to  their 
conversion,  but  they  soon  find  they  haven't  been  converted. 
In  a  few  months  they  call  themselves  "  backsliders."  They 
are  not  backsliders  at  all,  and  are  not  to  be  dealt  with  as  such. 
Backsliders  are  they  who  are  born  of  the  Spirit,  who  "  have 
tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,"  and  of  "  the  good  word  of  God," 
and  have  been  drawn  back  to  the  beggarly  elements  of  the 
world.  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  a  public  backslider  to  be 
classed  as  a  backslider. 

Now,  this  is  the  verse  to  which  I  want  to  call  attention  : 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Stand  ye  in  the  ways,  and  see,  and  ask 
for  the  old  paths,  where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein,  and 
ye  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls.  But  they  said,  We  will  not 
walk  therein." 

"  Ask   for  the  old  paths."     Some  one  once  brought  the 

(554) 


TOXIXG    DOWN    THE    COMMANDMENTS. 


555 


charge  against  nic  that  my  tlieology  was  old ;  too  old  for  the 
present  day.  Well,  it  is  as  old  as  the  world.  Truth  never 
grows  old;  truth  is  as  young  to-day  as  it  has  ever  been.  Talk 
of  the  old  truths  wearing  out !  Don't  you  enjoy  the  rays  of  the 
same  sun  which  has  been  shining  these  thousands  of  years? 
"  Worn  out?  "  "  The  old  paths?  "  We  don't  like  the  paths 
of  the  Fathers  ;  they  were  too  puritanical.  Hasn't  this  nation 
given  up  the  Sabbath  ?  Are  not  trains  on  the  railroads  and 
barges  on  the  rivers  loaded  with  excursionists  on  Sunday, 
while  many  churches  are  almost  empty? 

I  believe  that  this  is  the  best  land  that  God  has  given  to  any 
nation,  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,  and  it  is  a  poor 
man's  paradise.  If  a  man  will  let  whiskey  and  tobacco  alone 
he  can  soon  have  his  own  home.  Think  of  the  millions  of  dol- 
lars put  into  tobacco  and  whiskey.  Is  it  any  wonder  people 
complain  about  "  hard  times  "?  What  we  want  is  to  have  a 
revival  of  righteousness,  and  we  will  have  "  good  times."  Then 
our  cities  will  not  be  overrun  with  men  out  of  work  nor  filled 
with  the  cry  of  the  poor  and  the  needy.  Think  of  the  suffering 
in  even  one  large  city  for  forty-eight  hours  just  for  the  want 
of  food  and  fuel ;  and  what  causes  it  but  our  sins  and  iniquities  ? 
There  is  no  use  closing  our  eyes  and  saying,  "  It  is  not  true.' 

Some  time  ago  I  was  talking  with  a  man  highly  esteemed 
in  the  church,  and  he  said : 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  be  so  puritanical.  When  the  Lord 
Jesus  came  He  toned  down  the  commandments." 

"  Did  He  tone  down  the  First  Commandment  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  No,  not  that  one." 

"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother?  " 

"  No.     It  is  too  well  toned  down  now  in  this  country.'' 

"  Thou  shalt  not  steal  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery?  " 

"  No." 

And  I  came  to  this  one  last,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day, 
to  keep  it  holy."     And  he  said : 


556 


THE    SUNDAY    NEWSPAPER. 


"  The  Lord  toned  that  one  down." 

Do  you  believe  it  ?  Do  you  believe  the  Lord  picked  out 
one  of  these  conimandnicnts  and  toned  it  down,  and  gave  us 
liberty  to  turn  the  Day  of  Cjod  into  a  day  of  recreation,  instead 
of  making  it  a  Holy  Day  unto  the  Lord?  No.  I  believe  that 
if  a  person  reads  the  newspapers  seven  da\'s  in  the  week,  he 
has  l^ackslidden.  I  don't  believe  you  can  read  Sunday  news- 
papers and  keep  your  heart  warm.  The  Sunday  newsi)aj)er 
takes  the  place  of  the  Bible  with  many  men,  and  if  a  man  reads 
it  and  goes  to  church,  Gabriel  couldn't  gain  his  attention. 
Bore  a  hole  in  that  man's  head  and  you  will  find  it  full  of  items 
of  news  gathered  from  all  over  the  world. 

Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  backslider  bidding  "'  good-bye  " 
to  the  church  of  Christ  ?  Did  you  ever  hear  of  one  going  into 
the  closet  and  saying,  "  I  liavc  known  you  now  for  ten  years. 
Your  service  is  hard  and  unequal.  You  are  a  hard  Master,  and 
the  world  is  better  than  you  are,  and  I  have  come  to  bid  you 
'  good-bye.'  I  am  going  to  leave  you.  Farewell,  Lord  Jesus." 
You  never  did  hear  that,  and  you  never  will. 

I  have  never  seen  a  father  and  mother  who  both  were  back- 
sliders, that  their  children  haven't  gone  to  ruin.  I  have  talked 
with  a  good  many  backsliders'  children,  and  they  asked  me 
this:  "If  there  is  so  much  pleasure  in  religion,  why  did  my 
father  and  mother  give  it  up?"  It  is  an  argument  I  have 
never  been  able  to  answer. 

"  It  is  an  evil  thing  and  bitter  "  to  forsake  the  Lord. 
Mothers,  you  have  children  coming  on  after  you.  What  is 
going  to  become  of  them?  One  of  the  saddest  pictures  in 
history  is  that  of  Lot  going  through  the  streets  of  Sodom  at 
midnight.  He  goes  to  a  house  and  knocks  at  the  door,  and 
some  one  inside  says,  "  Who  is  there?  "  "  Your  father.  There 
are  messengers  from  heaven  at  my  house,  and  they  tell  me  that 
this  city  is  going  to  be  destroyed,  i  want  }ou  to  llee  from 
the  city  with  me."  And  they  laugh  at  tlie  old  man.  I  see  him 
going  to  another  house  and  knocking,  and  another  asks, 
"  Who  is  there?  "     "  Your  father-in-law,  Lot.     I  have  a  mes- 


"AN     KVIL    TIllNC;    AND    BITTER." 


557 


sage  from  Heaven.  We  must  leave  the  eity  at  early  day- 
break." And  they  laugh  at  him  and  moek  him.  Lot  had 
taken  his  children  into  Sodom,  but  he  could  not  get  them  out. 
He  is  a  good  specimen  of  a  backslider. 

Once  when  I  was  in  St.  Louis,  I  tried  to  lead  an  old,  white- 
haired  backslider  back  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  He  had  been 
there  twenty  years  and  his  religion  didn't  bear  transportation. 
He  lost  it  somewhere  between  the  East  and  St.  Louis.  I 
worked  and  worked  upon  him  for  a  long  time,  trying  to  get  him 
to  come  back.  I  spoke  about  this  verse :  "  Thine  own  wicked- 
ness shall  correct  thee,  and  thy  backslidings  shall  reprove  thee  : 
know  therefore  and  see  that  it  is  an  evil  thing  and  bitter,  that 
thou  hast  forsaken  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  that  my  fear  is  not 
in  thee,  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Hosts." 

"  Did  you  say  that  verse  is  in  the  Bible?  "  he  said.  "  Read 
it  again." 

I  read  it  slowly  and  carefully.  The  man  dropped  his  head 
and  said,  "  That  is  true.  I  have  had  a  bitter  and  an  evil  time 
of  it." 

But  he  came  back.  About  midnight  the  old  man  went 
away,  as  I  thought,  rejoicing.  But  the  next  night  when  I  was 
preaching  he  sat  in  front  of  me,  and  the  poor  fellow  looked  as 
if  he  hadn't  a  friend  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  When  I  went 
into  the  inquiry-room  he  followed  me  in,  and  said : 

"  I  am  in  trouble.  This  has  been  the  most  wretched  day 
of  all  my  life  !  " 

"  That  is  singular,"  I  said,  "  I  thought  that  God  restored 
to  you  the  '  joy  of  His  salvation  '  last  night." 

"  So  He  did,  and  I  think  God  has  spoken  peace  and  for- 
giveness to  my  soul.  But  I  have  four  married  sons  and 
daughters  in  this  city,  and  I  have  spent  the  day  in  talking  with 
them  personally;  and  there  was  not  one  who  didn't  mock  me, 
and  call  me  '  an  old  fool.'  I  led  them  into  iniquity,  but  I  can't 
lead  them  out." 

The  most  pathetic,  the  most  tender,  tlie  most  loving  words 
in  the  Hible  have  been  addressed  to  backsliders.  God  is  trying 
34 


558 


A    FATHER    FINDS    HIS    SON. 


to  WOO  his  erring  sons  back  to  himself.  When  General  Grant 
lay  in  front  of  the  enemy  in  the  Wilderness,  a  father  in  the 
North  heard  that  his  son  had  been  wounded,  and  he  started  for 
the  army.  When  he  arrived  at  the  front  he  couldn't  find  any 
trace  of  his  boy.  The  hospitals  were  filled  with  sick  and 
wounded  soldiers.  The  father  couldn't  eat,  drink,  nor  sleep 
until  he  had  found  his  son.  Going  down  through  a  ward  he 
would  cry  out : 

"John  Thompson,  your  father  wants  you!  " 

The  sick  and  wounded  soldiers  would  lift  their  heads,  and, 
I  suppose,  said  to  themselves,  "  I  wish  that  was  my  father  call- 
ing to  me."  He  passed  from  one  hospital  to  another,  and  his 
voice  would  ring  through  the  wards  : 

"  John  Thompson,  your  father  wants  you." 

And  by  and  by  a  wounded  soldier  lifted  his  head  and 
said : 

"  Here  I  am,  father!  " 

The  father  put  his  arms  around  his  neck  and  kissed  him. 
Oh,  backslider,  God  wants  you.  Say  to  Him,  "  Here  I  am, 
Father !  " 

There  is  one  peculiarity  about  the  pit  into  which  backsliders 
fall,  and  that  is,  there  is  only  one  way  out  of  it,  and  that  is  the 
way  they  got  in.  The  same  road  that  took  you  away  from 
Christ  is  the  very  road  that  will  take  you  back.  You  left  Him 
without  cause.  I  will  challenge  an}'  backslider  to  give  a  good 
reason  for  leaving  the  Lord.  Have  you  an  excuse  that  will 
bear  the  light  of  cternitx?  Some  women  say,  "  It  is  my  hus- 
band. He  has  not  treated  me  well."  That  ought  to  have 
brought  you  nearer  to  Christ.  Was  it  the  Lord  who  gave  you 
a  bad  husband?  Some  men  say,  "  My  wife  has  not  done  as 
she  ought."  Should  that  alienate  you  from  Christ?  You 
have  met  with  aftliction.  CkkI  docs  not  afflict  you  willingly. 
He  never  lias,  and  never  will.  Did  you  ever  punish  a  child? 
Did  you  not  do  it  for  the  child's  good,  and  not  for  the  pleasure 
of  doing  it?  I  never  see  fathers  and  mothers  who  really  like 
to  punish  their  children.     When  they  chasten  them  it  is  for 


CONVKRTEI)    IN    "THH    lU'SH." 


561 


their  good,  and  if  you  arc  under  the  chastening  hand  of  God, 
don't  rebel  and  think  Him  a  hard  Master. 

Now,  if  you  want  to  return  to  the  Lord,  there  is  nothing  to 
hinder  you  but  your  own  will ;  your  backslidings  can't  keep 
you,  because  lie  will  blot  them  all  out  if  }ou"ll  only  let  Him. 

A  man  once  said  to  me  :  "  Mr.  Moody,  I  think  I  have  been 
so  mean  and  wicked  and  contemptible  that  the  Lord  would  not 
receive  me."  I  said,  "  That  is  your  thought  and  not  God's 
thought.  Did  you  ever  see  a  son  who  had  gone  astray,  whose 
father  and  mother,  when  he  came  home  with  a  broken  heart, 
were  not  willing  to  receive  him  ?  " 

When  I  was  in  London  we  received  a  request  to  pray  for  a 
boy  who  had  gone  off  into  "  the  bush,"  as  they  called  it  in  Aus- 
tralia. The  father  and  mother  seemed  to  be  broken-hearted. 
Their  boy  had  gone  to  a  far-ofif  country  in  his  sins,  and  they 
wanted  united  prayer  ofTered  for  him.  I  suppose  that  not  less 
than  twenty  thousand  people  offered  prayer  for  that  young  man 
at  one  time  in  one  of  the  largest  meetings  in  Agricultural  Hall. 
Away  ofif  in  the  wilds  of  Australia,  as  he  was  one  day  leaving 
his  hut,  he  received  a  letter  telling  him  how  many  people  had 
prayed  for  him.  On  his  way  back  to  his  hut  he  was  so  over- 
come by  remorse  that  he  could  not  ride.  He  got  ofY  his  horse 
and  w'ent  into  "  the  bush,"  and  God  converted  him  right  there. 
He  wrote  his  parents  what  had  happened,  and  they  wrote  to 
him  to  come  home  as  soon  as  he  could.  They  were  so  afraid 
that  he  would  reach  home  late  at  night  and  they  would  not  see 
him  that  they  had  a  Ix'll  hung  so  that  it  could  wake  up  the 
whole  family,  so  anxious  were  they  to  see  him.  That  is  the  way 
God  receives  backsliders. 

"  Ring  the  bells  of  Heaven,  tlieie  is  joy  to-day. 
For  a  sonl  returning  from  tlie  wild." 

That  is  the  hymn  that  Mr.  Spurgeon  loved  to  quote  so 
much.  He  liked  to  tell  of  the  joy  in  heaven  over  the  one  sinner 
that  repents. 

When  you  tell  a  young  convert  that  you  had  rather  hear  liim 
speak  than  the  minister,  you  are  spoiling  him.     Many  have 


562 


A    "I'KOMINKNT"    CHRISTIAN'. 


been  spoiled  in  that  way.  W'iien  he  thinks  he  is  strong,  down 
he  goes.  He  backshdes  from  a  lack  of  humility.  A  man  who 
has  not  humility  is  in  a  backslidden  state.  If  he  pulTs  himself 
up  and  says,  "  I,  I,  1.  I,"  and  he  tliinks  more  of  himself  than  he 
does  of  any  one  else,  he  is  backsliding.  I  once  received  a  letter 
from  a  man  whose  photograph  was  on  the  outside  of  the  envel- 
ope. He  advertised  himself  as  a  prominent  Christian  worker. 
I  think  he  was.  His  letter  paper  had  another  big  photograph 
of  himself,  and  he  had  two  printed  notices  with  his  photograph. 
I  received  four  photographs  from  him.  Well.  I  felt  as  if  that 
man  had  backslidden.  What  does  the  l]ible  say?  "  Pride 
goeth  before  destruction,  and  an  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall." 
If  a  man  gets  puffed  up  and  vain,  isn't  he  in  danger  of  back- 
sliding? 

When  a  man  follows  the  Lord  afar  olT.  he  can't  testify  for 
Jesus,  and  he  can't  bring  any  one  to  Him.  Can  he?  You've 
got  to  be  near  the  Lord  to  introduce  others  to  Him.  One  night 
in  Philadelphia  a  friend  of  mine  was  passing  a  drinking  saloon 
and  he  saw  a  church-member  inside  playing  cards.  He  took 
out  a  plain  card  from  his  pocket  and  wrote  upon  it,  "  The  Lord 
is  my  witness." 

"  Take  that  in,"  he  said  to  a  boy,  "  and  give  it  to  that  man." 
The  man  took  it  and  read  it,  and  said  to  the  boy : 

"  Who  gave  you  that  card  ?  " 

"  A  stranger  going  by,"  said  the  boy.  And  the  man  rushed 
to  the  door  and  looked  up  and  down  the  street,  and  tlien 
sneaked  off  home. 

That  church-member  was  following  the  Lord  afar  off,  wasn't 
he?  If  a  man  goes  to  a  saloon  and  gets  drunk  he  is  following 
the  Lord  afar  off,  isn't  he?  If  a  man  goes  to  a  billiard-iiall  and 
plays  to  see  who  shall  pay  for  the  drinks,  if  he  is  a  professed 
Christian,  isn't  he  following  the  Lord  afar  off? 

Whenever  you  find  a  man  who  has  got  away  from  Christ, 
the  living  fountain,  he  is  all  the  time  thirsty.  I  remember  once, 
during  the  Civil  War,  coming  down  the  Tennessee  River  in  a 
boat  full  of  wounded  soldiers.     It  was  in  the  spring  time,  when 


TIIK    WATER    <)1'"     I-II'I-:.  563 

the  water  was  very  roil\-.  There  was  almost  a  teaspoonful  of 
sand  to  a  tunil)ler  full  of  water,  and  you  could  not  fdter  it.  We 
gave  it  to  the  men,  but  it  did  not  quench  their  thirst.  The 
more  they  drank  the  more  they  wanted.  We  gave  it  to  one 
man  who  was  dying,  and  I  remember  the  last  words  he  said 
were,  "  Oh.  for  a  drink  of  water  frcjm  ni\'  father's  well !  " 

Ah  !  that  ought  to  be  the  prayer  of  every  child  of  God  and 
of  every  backslider,  "  ( )h,  for  a  drink  of  water  from  my  Father's 
well!  "  and  if  we  drink  of  that  living  water  from  the  wells  of 
salvation  it  will  satisfy.  Thank  God,  there  is  no  price  to  salva- 
tion, it  is  as  free  as  any  gift  we  can  have,  and  all  we  have  to  do 
is  to  take  it. 

Once  when  we  were  traveling  on  the  great  plains  we 
thought  we  could  see  water  in  the  distance.  The  men  and 
beasts  with  us  w-ere  very  thirsty.  On  we  started  towards  what 
we  thought  was  water,  but  we  were  deceived.  It  was  only  a 
mirage.  We  saw  something  that  looked  like  water  a  little 
further  on ;  again  we  were  disappointed ;  and  we  went  on  and 
on  for  hours,  and  still  no  water,  and  all  were  suiTering.  So  it 
is  with  hundreds  and  thousands  of  people,  they  think  that  a 
little  further  on  they  will  find  that  which  will  satisfy  them. 
But  at  last  we  saw  water,  and  the  mules  started  on  a  dead  run 
for  it.  When  we  reached  it  the  men  were  so  thirsty  that  they 
did  not  wait  to  get  their  cups,  but  drank  out  of  their  caps  or 
anything  else.  It  was  sweet,  and  so  the  water  of  life  is  sweet 
to  the  man  who  is  really  thirsty. 

No  one  need  go  unsatisfied  if  he  will  only  come  to  Christ. 
A  young  girl  was  going  to  a  spring  for  water,  and  when  she 
found  it  dry  she  started  to  go  up  higher  to  another  spring.  On 
the  way  a  person  met  her  who  asked  her  what  she  would  do  if 
she  found  that  dry,  too.  She  answered  that  she  would  go  up 
still  higher  to  another  spring.  So.  my  friends,  if  the  springs 
we  have  been  drinking  from  are  dry.  let  us  go  up  a  little 
higher.  There  we  will  find  a  fountain  that  has  never  yet  been 
dry.  It  bursts  forth  from  the  throne  of  God ;  it  is  the  pure 
stream  of  the  water  of  life. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE   KINGDOM   OF   GOD. 

One  Thing  God  Cannot  Do  —  What  Became  of  the  Missing  Five 
Dollars?  —  Three  Stumbling  Blocks  —  A  Humorous  Incident  — 
The  Man  Who  was  Looking  for  "Cold  Chills"  —  A  Re- 
markable Incident  in  "Sir.  Moody's  Career  —  Mr.  Moody  Loses 
His  Way  —  "  Would  Vou  Tell  Me  Who  You  Are?"  —  An  Aston- 
ished Scotchman  —  The  Colorado  Convict  and  His  Flowers  — 
"They  Remind  Me  of  My  Mother"  —  Obstinate  Sammy — An 
Incident  in  Glasgow  —  A  Memorable  Night  —  How  Did  John 
Draw  the  Crowd?  —  A  "Sensational"  Preacher  —  "Did  You 
Notice  His  Coat?"  —  Remarkable  Story  of  Mr.  Moody's  Neigh- 
bor, Long  —  The  Text  Written  on  the  Flyleaf  —  The  Pointing 
Finger  of  a  Madman  —  Mr.  ^Moody's  Visit  to  Neighbor  Long's 
House  —  A  Message  From  the  Grave  —  Dying  in  the  Flames. 

REPKNT.\NCE. 

IT  MAY  sound  rather  harsli.  but  nevertheless  it  is  true,  that 
tliere  is  one  thinjr  that  God  Himself  cannot  do.     I  repeat 

^  it,  there  is  one  thing  that  God  Himself  cannot  do.  He 
cannot  forgive  a  man  who  does  not  want  to  be  forgiven.  Sup- 
pose I  am  going  out  for  the  afternoon  and  I  command  my  boy 
not  to  go  out  of  doors.     When  T  get  back,  the  servant  says : 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  your  son  has  been  disobedient.  He 
went  out  with  some  bad  boys.  He  watched  for  your  return, 
and  when  he  saw  you  coming  he  slipped  back  into  the  house." 

I  call  my  boy  and  say: 

"John,  have  you  been  out  this  afternoon?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Look  me  straight  in  the  eye,  and  tell  me,  have  you  dis- 
obeyed me,  have  you  been  out  of  doors?  I  had  fifty  dollars 
in  that  drawer,  and  I  find  five  dollars  is  missing.  Do  you 
know  anything  about  it?" 

"  No,  sir." 

(564) 


BEYOND    FORCIVENESS.  565 

"  Have  you  been  to  my  drawer?" 

"  No,  sir." 

"  Do  you  know  what  became  of  tlie  missing  five  dollars?  " 

"  No,  sir,  I  think  the  servant  must  have  taken  it." 

Then  I  call  the  servant. 

"Has  John  been  out  this  afternoon?" 

"  Yes,  sir.  Your  weren't  out  of  the  house  five  minutes 
when  some  boys  came  around  whistling,  and  he  went  out." 

"  Do  you  know  anything  about  his  taking  my  money?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.     John  took  it." 

When  John  can't  deny  it  any  longer,  he  says: 

"  I  took  it." 

"  Are  you  sorry?  " 

"  No." 

"  Will  you  promise  me  that  you  won't  do  it  again?" 

"  No,  sir;  I  will  do  it  every  time  I  can." 

Will  you  tell  me  how  I  am  going  to  forgive  that  boy? 
Hasn't  he  put  himself  beyond  my  reach?  I  may  weep  over 
him,  I  may  pray  night  and  da}-  for  him.  but  I  can't  make  him 
repent.  I  can't  make  him  ask  to  be  forgiven.  Doesn't  his 
will  come  in  there?  I  repeat,  hasn't  he  put  himself  beyond  my 
reach?  That  is  the  condition  of  hundreds  and  thousands  to- 
day. A  man  says,  "  I  won't  forsake  whiskey;  I  won't  forsake 
gambling;  I  won't  stop  blaspheming  God;  I  will  be  a  hypo- 
crite; I  won't  forsake  my  backslidings;  T  won't  forsake  my  sin. 
I  will  live  in  it,  and  I  will  die  in  it."  Well,  you  can.  You  are 
a  free  agent.  God  cannot  make  a  man  free  and  l)ind  him  at 
the  same  time.  God  has  made  us  free  moral  agents,  to  choose 
between  good  and  evil.  If  we  choose  evil,  we  must  reap  the 
fruits  of  evil.  If  we  choose  right  and  righteousness,  we  shall 
reap  a  good  harvest.  Won't  we?  Isn't  that  so?  But  sup- 
pose I  am  one  of  those  soft-hearted  fathers,  and  can't  bear  to 
have  my  boy  go  on  feeling  that  I  am  not  willing  to  forgive  him; 
and  I  say,  "  He  doesn't  want  to  be  forgiven,  but  I  will  forgive." 
That  is  where  David  made  a  blunder  with  Absalom.  David 
forgave  Absalom  before  he  repented,  and  before  he  asked  to 


566 


STUMBLING    BLOCKS. 


be  forgiven.  And  what  was  the  result?  He  drove  his  father 
from  the  throne,  and  he  would  have  taken  David's  life.  I 
don't  believe  a  man  will  ever  see  the  kingdom  of  God  who  does 
not  repent.  And  it  would  be  hell  to  him  if  he  got  there.  That 
boy  would  be  perfectly  miserable  in  my  company  as  long  as  he 
was  in  that  state. 

There  are  three  stumbling  blocks  in  man's  way  to  God: 
his  sins,  his  thoughts,  his  will.  They  stand  in  every  man's 
way.  There  are  three  other  stumbling  blocks:  human  re- 
ligion, human  wisdom,  and  human  righteousness.  If  a  man 
is  willing  to  give  up  his  sins,  God  does  not  hesitate  to  forgive 
him.  But  the  trouble  is,  man  wants  to  go  to  God  with  all  his 
sins  ;  he  does  not  want  to  give  them  up.  ]\Ian  doesn't  like  to 
give  up  either  his  will  or  his  way.  It  is  said  of  Bunyan  that 
when  he  was  awakened,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  was  striving  with 
him,  he  was  playing  a  game  of  "  cat  "  in  the  fields.  "  Bunyan," 
a  voice  seemed  to  say,  "  will  you  give  up  your  sins  and  go  to 
heaven,  or  hold  on  to  them  and  go  to  hell?  ''  Bunyan  had  to 
face  that  question.     Every  man  faces  that  question. 

Now,  it  is  the  hardest  thing  for  a  man  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian, and  yet  it  is  the  easiest.  That  is  a  paradoxical  statement, 
but  what  I  mean  is  that  it  is  a  very  hard  thing  to  do  until  he 
makes  up  his  mind,  and  a  very  easy  thing  to  do  after  he  has 
made  it  up.  I  had  a  little  nephew  who  took  a  Bible  he  saw 
lying  on  the  table  and  threw  it  on  the  floor.  His  mother  said 
to  him: 

"  Go  and  pick  up  uncle's  Bible." 

"  I  don't  want  to." 

"  I  didn't  ask  you  whether  you  \\anted  to  or  not;  go  and 
pick  it  up." 

"  I  won't." 

"Why,  Charlie,  who  taught  you  that  naughty  word?" 

She  found  oui  that  the  little  fellow  not  on!}-  knew  what  it 
meant, -but  he  meant  every  word  he  said.     The  mother  said: 

"  Charlie,  I  never  heard  you  talk  like  that  before.  If  you 
don't  go  and  pick  up  uncle's  Bible,  I  shall  punish  you." 


CO\QUERIN(;    THE    WILL.  567 

"  I  won't  do  it." 

She  told  him  again  that  if  he  didn't  pick  up  the  Bible  she 
would  punish  him.  Then  he  said  he  couldn't;  he  didn't  want 
to.  That  is  the  trouble  with  men;  they  don't  want  to  come. 
Christ  says,  "  Ye  will  not  come  to  me  that  ye  might  have  life." 
It  is  not  because  men  caii'f  come  to  God;  it  is  because  they 

WO)l't. 

The  little  fellow  looked  at  the  Bible  on  the  floor  as  though 
he  would  like  to  pick  it  uji,  but  he  couldn't.  At  last  he  got 
down  on  the  floor  and  got  both  arms  around  the  book  and 
apparently  tried  to  lift  it,  but  he  said  he  couldn't. 

"  Now,"  the  mother  said.  "  Charlie,  pick  up  that  l)ook  or  I 
shall  punish  you,  and  you  will  have  to  pick  the  book  up,  too." 

I  felt  very  much  interested;  for  I  knew  if  she  didn't  break 
his  will  he  would  break  her  heart  eventually.  At  last  she 
conquered  the  little  fellow's  will ;  and  the  minute  that  was  done, 
he  picked  up  the  book  easily  enough. 

When  men  are  willing  to  break  with  sin,  the  intellectual 
dif^culties  are  very  small.  I  heard  of  a  couple  of  men  who 
crossed  a  river  to  do  some  work.  They  got  drunk,  and  after 
a  while  they  returned  to  their  boat,  got  into  it,  and  pulled  for 
the  other  side.  They  pulled  and  pulled,  but  they  didn't  make 
anv  headway,  and  finally  one  said,  "  Isn't  it  strange  that  we 
haven't  got  to  the  other  shore?"  They  kept  on  pulling  and 
pulling  until  both  were  tired  out,  and  then  they  found  they 
hadn't  untied  the  boat;  they  had  been  tied  to  the  shore  all  the 
time.  You  laugh  at  that;  l)ut  men  are  anchored  to  some  cer- 
tain sm.  They  wonder  why  they  don't  get  on.  Break  ihc 
ropc!  If  you  are  willing  to  turn  from  sin,  God  meets  you  and 
gives  you  power. 

The  trouble  is,  people  have  confused  ideas  upon  this  sub- 
ject. They  think  repentance  is  something  mysterious.  They 
imagine  some  sort  of  a  sensation,  a  feeling,  goes  with  it,  and 
that  they  must  have  it.  I  was  once  talking  to  a  man  over  fifty 
vears  old  who  lived  in  a  town  adjoining  my  own.  In  fact,  I 
could  look  across  the  river  into  his  house.     I  said  to  him: 


08  WAITIXC.    FOR    A    SENSATION. 

"Why  don't  you  get  religion?" 
"  It  never  struck  me." 
"What?     What?" 

"  Oh,"  he  said,  "  some  people  it  strikes,  and  some  it  don't." 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  religious  interest  in  my  town  at 
that  time,  and  my  neighbors  were  nearly  all  converted.  But 
there  he  was,  fifty-six  years  old.  waiting  for  something  to 
"  strike  "  him.  I  know  of  many  people  waiting  for  something 
to  strike  them. 

A  man  who  was  trying  to  find  Christ  said  he  thought  if 
he  were  converted  "  cold  chills  "  would  run  down  his  back.  He 
thought  he  would  have  a  good  deal  of  "  feeling."  A  man  may 
have  a  good  deal  of  feeling  and  not  repent.  Did  you  ever  see 
a  man  who  realized  what  he  had  done  when  he  was  drunk,  and 
promised  his  wife  and  family  tliat  he  would  never  drink  again, 
and  yet  was  drunk  inside  of  forty-eight  hours?  Yes,  he  had 
feeling,  but  that  is  not  repentance.  Did  you  ever  go  to  the 
court  room  and  do  your  best  to  get  a  weeping  man  released, 
and  then  have  him  steal  your  pocketbook  before  he  went  to 
bed?  He  had  plenty  of  feeling,  but  that  is  not  repentance. 
Repentance  is  not  remorse.  Judas  had  enough  to  drive  him 
to  the  grave  of  a  suicide.  Remorse  is  one  thing;  repentance 
is  another. 

Repentance  is  not  feeling.  Mark  that!  There  are  thou- 
sands of  people  with  arms  folded  who  are  just  waiting  for  some 
queer  kind  of  feeling  to  come  to  tliem.  They  think  repentance 
is  a  certain  kind  of  feeling;  that  they  will  feel  very  badly,  very 
sorrowful  —  got  to  weep  a  good  deal,  before  they  will  be  in 
condition  to  come  to  God.  Now,  a  man  may  feel  very  badly 
and  not  repent.  I  venture  to  say  if  you  go  into  any  prison  you 
cannot  find  a  i)risoner  there  who  does  not  feel  sorry  he  got 
caught,  awful  sorry  —  shed  a  great  many  tears  in  court  on  his 
trial.  He  is  sorry  he  got  caught.  That  is  all.  But  there  is 
no  true  repentance;  no  turning  to  God.  I  once  preached 
seven  months  to  the  convicts  in  the  Maryland  penitentiary.  I 
found  human  nature  just  the  same  under  lock  and  key  that  it 


WHAT    RKFKNTANCE    IS    NOT.  569 

is  outside  of  prison  walls.  There  were  a  great  many  prisoners 
there  who  had  been  sentenced  for  five  or  ten  years  who  showed 
no  signs  of  repentance  at  all.  They  were  very  sorry  they  were 
caught.  They  would  have  liked  to  get  out  very  well ;  and 
perhaps  if  they  had  they  would  have  committed  the  same 
offense  right  over  again.     That  is  not  repentance  at  all. 

What  is  repentance,  then?  I  will  tell  you  what  it  is  not. 
It  is  not  going  to  meetings  and  shedding  a  few  tears  and 
making  good  resolutions.  Repentance  is  not  fear.  A  great 
many  people  say  I  don't  preach  the  terrors  of  religion.  T  don't 
want  to  —  don't  want  to  scare,  men  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
I  don't  believe  in  preaching  that  way.  If  I  did  get  some  in 
that  way  they  would  soon  get  out.  If  I  wanted  to  scare  men 
into  Heaven  I  would  just  hold  the  terrors  of  hell  over  their 
heads  and  say,  "  go  right  in."  But  that's  not  the  way  to  win 
men.  Terror  never  saved  a  man  yet.  Look  at  that  vessel 
tossing  upon  the  stormy  sea  ;  the  sailors  think  she  is  going  to 
the  bottom  and  that  death  is  nigh.  They  fall  on  their  knees, 
and  one  would  think  they  were  all  converted.  They  are  not 
converted;  they're  only  scared.  There's  no  repentance  there, 
and  as  soon  as  the  storm  is  over  and  they  are  safe  on  shore  they 
are  just  the  same  as  before.  How  many  men,  while  lying  on  a 
sick  bed,  when  they  thought  death  was  near,  have  made  up 
their  minds  to  live  a  new  life  if  they  only  got  well  again  ;  but 
the  moment  they  were  better  they  forgot  all  about  their  good 
resolutions.     Fear  is  one  thing,  and  repentance  is  another. 

You  ask.  What  is  it?  The  best  definition  1  can  find  is, 
Afterthought.  It  is  a  change  in  one's  ideas.  It  is  a  change  in 
one's  mind.  Some  one  asked  a  soldier  how  it  happened  that 
he  became  a  Christian.  He  said,  "  The  Lord  said  to  me 
'Halt!  Right-about  face!  March!'  and  that  was  all  there 
was  to  it."  If  you  are  going  the  wrong  way,  face  about  and  go 
the  other  way.  True  repentance  is  turning  around  and  going 
the  other  way.  Suppose  I  want  to  go  from  Boston  to  New 
York,  and  I  board  the  train  at  the  station,  and  a  man  says: 

"  Where  are  you  going?  " 


570  TRAVELING    BY    ONK'S    FEELINGS. 

"To  Xew  York." 

"  Not  on  this  train." 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir." 

"  But  this  train  is  going  to  Maine.  I  have  been  in  and  out 
of  this  station  a  good  many  times,  and  I  know  all  about  this 
train.     I  tell  you  this  train  is  going  to  Maine." 

He  convinces  me  that  I  am  on  the  wrong  train,  and  that  I 
will  go  to  Portland  if  I  remain  on  it. 

Xow,  repentance  is  taking  my  gripsack  and  getting  out  of 
that  train.  Nothing  mysterious  about  that.  The  Bible  says, 
"  Turn  ye,  turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways;  for  why  w'ill  ye  die?  " 
Will  you  do  it?  ^"ou  know  right  from  wrong.  Tf  you  are 
wrong,  make  haste  and  face  about  at  once.  If  }ou  are  in  bad 
company,  get  out  of  that  company.  Cut  their  accjuaintance 
right  ofT.  Face  about!  Tell  them  that  you  are  not  going  their 
way  any  longer.  Let  the  drinking  man  give  \\\)  strong  drink 
at  once;  let  the  dishonest  man  give  up  dishonesty.  T  <lon't 
care  how  you  "  feel."  You  may  have  to  go  against  \ our 
feelings. 

I  preached  and  lived  in  Chicago  eighteen  years.  I  know 
that  Chicago  is  on  the  west  side  of  Lake  Michigan.  T  once 
went  down  to  Cleveland,  and  for  the  forty  days  that  1  was  there 
the  sun  rose  in  the  west  and  set  in  the  east,  according  to  my 
feelings.  At  another  time  I  was  in  my  county,  preaching.  I 
had  never  been  to  the  upper  end  of  the  county  before,  and 
when  I  crossed  a  bridge  and  went  down  the  river,  1  said,  "  I 
am  sure  this  is  the  road  to  Ouincy;  "  l)Ut  after  traveling  a  while 
it  occurred  to  me  that  I  had  better  ask,  because  I  was  going  by 
my  feelings  altogether.       So  I  shouted  to  a  man,  and  said: 

"  Ilello!   Am  I  on  the  right  road  to  Ouincy?  " 

"  No,  sir,  you  are  going  right  away  from  it." 

And  I  concluded  that  man  had  probably  been  to  Quincy, 
and  was  acquainted  with  the  way.  So  I  turned  my  horse 
about  and  went  on  to  Ouincy.  Before  T  turned  T  had  traveled 
according  to  my  feelings;  but  T  was  now  traveling  against  my 
feelings.     Turn  from  sin,  and  come  to  Christ. 


A    TF.XT    THAI'    KX(  ITHU    dRIUSITV. 


571 


I  knew  a  Scotchman  who  said  ho  wouldn't  be  converted 
mukr  the  preaching  of  an  American.  No  amount  of  coaxing 
could  induce  him  to  come  to  our  meetings.  Some  time  after, 
we  were  in  the  north  of  Scotland,  and  I  was  preaching  in  the 
open  air  on  the  banks  of  the  Inverness;  the  sun  doesn't  set 
there  until  about  ten  o'clock.  I  preached  from  the  words  of 
Naaman,  "  I  thought."  and  once  in  a  while  I  would  bring  out 
the  text,  "  I  thought."  This  Scotchman  was  employed  by  a 
merchant  in  another  city  who  had  sent  him  up  there  on  bus- 
iness, hoping  that  he  would  somehow  get  into  the  meetings. 
That  evening  he  happened  to  be  down  on  the  banks  of  the 
river,  and  from  a  distance  he  heard  the  text,  "'  I  thought;  "  and 
he  said  to  himself  "That  is  funny  language;  I  wonder  what 
that  fellow  is  thinking  about,  anyway."  He  didn't  know  there 
was  any  preaching  going  on ;  he  just  saw  in  the  distance  a  man 
standing  there  with  a  crowd  of  people  in  front  of  him,  and  he 
said,  "  ^^'cll,  I  think  I'll  go  and  see  what  he's  'thinking' 
about."  So  he  came  and  listened,  and  the  word  of  God  got 
hold  of  him.  He  came  into  the  inquiry-meeting,  and  I  said 
to  him: 

"Are  you  a  Christian?" 

"  No,  but  I  should  like  to  be  one." 

I  sat  down  and  talked  with  him,  and  he  accepted  Christ. 
I  took  out  my  pencil  and  said  to  him: 

"Would  you  be  kind  enough  to  give  me  your  address;  I 
would  like  to  send  you  a  book?  "     He  gave  it  to  me  and  said: 

"  Would  you  tell  me  who  you  are.  sir?  I  would  like  to 
know  the  name  of  the  man  who  helped  me  into  the  kingdom." 

"  My  name  is  Moody." 

"  What,"  he  said,  "  Moody  and  Sankey?" 

"  Yes.  sir." 

Then  he  told  me  that  he  had  made  a  vow  never  to  hear  me. 
You  ought  to  have  seen  the  look  on  that  Scotchman's  face! 

When  I  hear  a  man  complaining  about  God's  plan  of  salva- 
tion, I  always  ask  liim  what  he  would  do  to  save  the  world. 
Man  savs,  Educate.    Education  decs  not  save  a  man.    An  edu- 


572 


THE    CONVICT'S    FLOWERS. 


cated  rascal  is  the  worst  rascal  of  all.  I  have  over  eleven  hun- 
dred students  in  my  school,  and  I  have  often  said  that  if  I 
knew  they  were  to  turn  out  bad  I  wouldn't  educate  them.  The 
idea  that  education  is  going  to  save!  How  would  you  save 
the  drunkard?  You  reply,  "  I  would  tell  him  to  assert  his 
manhood."  That  is  just  what  he  has  been  doing  for  years.  It 
hasn't  helped  him  very  much,  has  it? 

I  once  visited  the  grave  of  Cowden,  a  godly  man  who  died 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  On  his  tombstone  are  these 
words:  "/  Jia^r  sinned.  I  have  repented.  J  have  trusted.  I 
have  Iked.  I  have  died.  I  shall  rise.  I  shall  reign.''  Beauti- 
ful, are  they  not?  We  have  all  sinned.  Won't  you  take  the 
other  step,  repent?     Do  it  now. 

T  was  in  Colorado  preaching  the  Gospel  some  time  ago, 
and  I  heard  something  that  touched  my  heart  very  much. 
The  Governor  of  the  State  was  passing  through  the  prison, 
and  in  one  cell  he  found  a  young  man  who  had  his  window 
full  of  flowers  that  seemed  to  have  been  watched  with  tender 
care.  The  Governor  looked  at  the  prisoner  and  then  at  the 
flowers,  and  asked  whose  they  were. 

'*  These  are  my  flowers,"  said  the  poor  convict. 

"  Are  you  fond  of  flowers?  " 

"  Yes,  sir." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  here?" 

He  told  him  the  number  of  years.  He  was  sentenced  for  a 
long  time.     The  Governor  said  : 

"  What  makes  you  so  fond  of  flowers?" 

With  much  emotion  he  replied: 

"  When  T  was  a  boy  my  mother  used  to  have  a  good  many 
flowers.  15ut  she  died  and  I  was  left  without  a  niotlur's  care. 
As  I  water  these  flowers  and  care  for  them  they  remind  of  the 
days  when  I  was  at  home  and  ha])py  with  her." 

The  Governor  was  so  much  touched  that  he  said: 

"  Well,  young  man.  if  you  think  so  nnich  of  your  mother, 
I  think  you  will  apj^reciate  your  liberty,"  and  he  pardoned  him 
then  and  there. 


A    STUBBORN    CF^ILD. 


573 


My  sister  told  me  her  little  boy  said  something  naughty 
one  morning.     His  father  said  to  him: 

"  Sammy,  go  and  ask  your  mother's  forgiveness." 

"  I  won't."  replied  the  child. 

"  If  you  don't  ask  your  mother's  forgiveness  I'll  put  you 
to  bed." 

It  was  early  in  the  morning  —  before  he  went  to  business, 
and  the  boy  didn't  think  he  would  do  it.  He  said,  "  I  won't  " 
again.  They  undressed  him  and  put  him  to  bed.  The  father 
came  home  at  noon  expecting  to  iind  his  boy  j^laying  about 
the  house.  He  didn't  see  him  around,  and  he  asked  his  wife 
where  he  was. 

"  In  bed  still." 

So  he  went  up  to  the  room,  and  sat  down  by  the  bed,  and 
said: 

"  Sammy,  I  want  you  to  ask  your  mother's  forgiveness." 

But  the  answer  was  "  I  won't."  The  father  coaxed  and 
begged,  but  he  could  not  induce  the  child  to  ask  forgiveness. 
The  father  went  away,  expecting  that  when  he  came  home  at 
night  the  child  would  be  over  it.  At  night,  however,  he  found 
the  little  fellow  still  in  bed.  He  had  lain  there  all  day.  He 
tried  to  get  him  to  go  to  his  mother,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  His 
mother  tried  and  was  equally  unsuccessful.  The  father  and 
mother  could  not  sleep  that  night.  Every  moment  they  ex- 
pected to  hear  their  little  boy  knock  at  their  door.  My  sister 
told  me  it  was  just  as  if  death  had  come  into  their  home.  She 
never  passed  through  such  a  night.  In  the  morning  she  went 
to  the  boy  and  said: 

"  Now,  Sammy,  are  you  going  to  ask  my  forgiveness?" 

Cut  he  turned  his  face  to  the  wall  and  wouldn't  speak. 
The  father  came  home  at  noon  and  the  boy  was  as  stubborn 
as  ever.  It  looked  as  though  he  were  going  to  conquer.  The 
father  went  to  his  office,  and  late  that  afternoon  my  sister  went 
to  her  boy  and  began  to  reason  with  him,  and,  after  talking  for 
some  time,  she  said: 

"  Now,  Sammy,  say  '  mother.'  " 


574 


TUK    WORDS    SPOKEN. 


"  Mother,"  said  the  boy. 

"  Xow  say  '  for.'  " 

"  For." 

"  Xow  just  say  '  give.'  "    And  the  boy  repeated  "  give." 

"  Me,"  said  tlie  mother. 

"  i\Ie."  and  the  Httle  fellow  fairly  leaped  out  of  bed.  "  I 
have  said  it."  he  cried;  "  take  me  down  to  papa,  so  that  I  can 
say  it  to  him." 

\\'hen  I  was  in  Glasgow  a  lady  said  to  me,  "  You  use  the 
word  '  take  '  very  frequently.  Is  there  anything  of  that  kind 
in  the  Bible?  T  can't  find  it.  I  think  you  must  have  manu- 
factured that  word."  Why,  in  the  liible  it  savs:  ".  The  Spirit 
and  the  bride  say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say,  Come. 
And  let  him  that  is  athirst,  come.  And  whosoever  will,  let 
him  take  the  water  of  life  freely."  I  tell  you  if  you  are  not 
saved  it  is  Ijccause  \cm  won't  be.  You  will  not  come  unto 
Him  that  you  may  have  life.  The  door  hangs  on  that  hinge. 
If  you  are  \\illing  to  come  to  Christ,  no  power  on  earth 
can  keep  you  away.  To  men  who  say  they  can't  come  I  say 
be  honest  and  put  in  the  riglit  word  and  say  you  Tt'o/;'/  come. 

I  remember  tlie  first  time  I  ever  jM-eachcd  from  the  text 
"  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  etc."  I  liad  selected  an- 
other subject,  but  this  text  came  to  my  mind  and  the  IToly 
Spirit  seemed  to  say,  "  Speak  on  that  text  to-night."  I  tried 
to  dismiss  it;  I  tried  to  get  my  mind  on  some  other  subject, 
but  it  was  of  no  use;  so  I  prepared  a  few  thoughts,  and  went 
to  the  meeting.  An  excursion  train  had  cfime  in  from  the 
country,  and  among  the  excursionists  was  a  r.ible  class  of  five 
young  men.  The  teacher  seated  his  class  in  front  of  me  and 
ofifered  a  very  earnest  ]")ra\er,  the  burden  of  which  was,  "  Oh, 
God,  bless  my  class  to-night."  .\fter  I  closed  my  sermon  the 
spirit  f  f  God  was  so  powerfully  at  work  among  the  congre- 
gation that  I  felt  as  though  T  coidd  not  let  them  go.  There 
seemed  to  come  a  hush  from  heaven  —  vou  could  almost 
hear  men's  hearts  beating  —  and  for  five  or  ten  minutes  the 
audience  seemed  to  be  spelll)Ound  as  I  pleaded  with  them  to 


A    DREADFUL    ACCIDENT. 


575 


break  with  sin.  Somehow  I  felt  as  though  I  was  speaking  to 
some  whom  I  should  never  speak  to  again.  Then  we  had  an 
inquiry-meeting.  Soon  after  I  was  at  the  hotel  asleep,  when 
I  was  awakened  by  an  unusual  noise  in  the  building.  My 
family  were  with  nic.  and  T  was  a  little  alarmed  ;  I  thought  per- 
haps the  hotel  was  on  fire.  T  hastily  dressed  and  went  down 
to  the  office,  and,  to  my  great  horror,  learned  that  the  excur- 
sion train,  while  crossing  a  bridge,  had  gone  down  into  the 
chasm  beneath,  and  a  good  many  of  the  people  on  that  train 
were  in  eternity.  I  went  back  to  my  room,  and  said,  "  Thank 
God !  I  pleaded  with  those  people,  with  all  the  power  I  had,  to 
break  with  sin."  Those  five  young  men  were  standing  on 
the  platform  of  the  car,  and  while  a  gentleman  was  passing 
from  one  car  to  another  a  few  minutes  before  the  accident  he 
heard  them  discussing  whether  they  would  give  up  sin  or  not. 
The  bridge  gave  way  and  the  five  young  men  all  entered 
eternity  together.  ]\Iy  dear  friends,  isn't  it  the  safest,  the 
wisest,  and  the  best  thing  for  every  one  of  us  to  turn  from 
sin  now? 

THE   KINGDOM    OF   GOD. 

How  John  the  Baptist  got  a  crowd  together  I  do  not  know. 
There  were  no  newspapers  in  those  days  to  herald  his  coming; 
he  did  not  have  any  conmiittee;  he  did  not  have  a  temple  to 
preach  in  lighted  by  electric  light;  he  did  not  have  electric 
cars  to  bring  the  people  in  great  crowds;  he  did  not  preach  in 
great  cities  where  many  people  live  together.  Almost  any 
man  can  get  a  crowd,  these  days,  if  he  has  any  reputation  at 
all.  John  was  not  advertised  as  the  Reverend  John,  nor  as 
John  LL.D.  He  had  never  been  graduated  from  a  theolog- 
ical seminary;  he  was  a  man  without  a  title,  a  man  without 
position. 

But  I  can  imagine  a  few  shepherds  on  the  jilains  of  Jordan 
looking  after  their  sheep  and  goats,  and  a  stranger  coming 
towards  them  out  of  the  desert  clothed  in  raiment  of  camel's 
hair  bound  with  a  leathern  girdle.  He  got  a  few  of  those 
shepherds  together  —  perhaps  a  dozen  of  them  —  and  said: 
35 


576  'rHK    PRKACHIXC;    (.)]■•    JOHN. 

"  Set  your  liouscs  in  ortk-r,  the  Kini;-  is  just  at  the  (lot)r!  1  do 
not  know  the  day  or  the  hour  when  lie  is  coming-,  but  I  liave 
been  sent  before  llini  to  prepare  the  way.  Rei)cnt  ye;  for 
the  kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand."  After  he  deHvered  his 
message  lie  said  to  them.  "  I  will  he  back  to-morrow,"  and  dis- 
appeared. 

Talk  about  a  sensation!  1  tell  you  there  was  a  sensation 
that  time.     They  looked  one  at  the  other,  and  said: 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  a  man  talk  like  that?  " 

"  No,  I  never  heard  a  man  talk  like  that." 

"  Did  you  notice  his  coat  of  camel's  hair?  What  if  it 
should  be  JLlijah   ?  " 

What  name  in  all  Jewish  history  could  stir  the  heart  of 
Israel  like  that  name? 

The  shepherds  spread  the  news  —  it  didn't  recjuire  news- 
papers to  do  that  u]i  and  down  the  \'alley  of  the  Jordan  — 
and  the  next  day  what  a  greeting  John  had!  Again  the  voice 
rang  up  and  down  the  Valley  of  Jordan.  "  Repent!  for  the 
k'ingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand  !  "  What  a  thrill  went  llirough 
the  land! 

I  think  John  was  one  of  the  most  wonderful  men  that  ever 
lived.  He  had  a  message  to  deliver,  and  it  came  from  the 
heart,  red-hot  with  the  love  of  (]od.  and  the  message  was  on 
fire.  How  the  sparks  f^ew  in  all  directions!  If  there  had  l)een 
a  newspaper  reporter  there  he  would  have  been  converted  right 
away,  and  woiddn't  have  written  out  the  sermon  at  all.  I 
haven't  any  doubt  there  were  some  old  croakers  there  who_ 
said  it  was  a  "  sensation."  I  wouldn't  give  a  snap  for  a  man 
who  coiddn't  create  a  sensation.  I  would  to  God  another 
John  the  liaptist  would  a])])ear. 

There  will  never  come  before  us  a  question  so  important  as 
this  great  c|uestion  of  eternal  life.  Under  the  preaching  of 
John  the  Baptist,  under  the  preaching  of  Jesus  Christ,  many 
came  near  tf)  the  kingdom  (;f  Cod,  and  yet  they  missed  it  just 
as  men  and  women  are  missing  it  to-day. 

Before  I  left  home  I  was  one  dav  working  in  a  field  in  com- 


Fir.irriNG    against    conviction.  i^'jj 

panv  with  a  neighbor  named  Long,  wlio  lived  close  by,  and  all 
at  once  I  noticed  that  he  was  crying  and  wiping  his  eyes.  I 
asked  "  What  is  the  matter?  "  Then  he  told  me  the  strangest 
story  I  had  ever  hoard  in  my  life.  He  said  that  when  he  left 
home  his  mother  gave  him  her  own  IJible,  saying,  "  i\Iy  son. 
'  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  righteousness,  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  "  He  said  if  it 
hadn't  l)een  her  liible  he  would  have  thrown  it  away,  but  it 
had  that  text  written  upon  the  fly  leaf  by  his  mother's  own 
hand  and  he  kept  it.  It  was  her  favorite  text,  and  he  had  often 
heard  her  repeat  it.  His  great  object  in  life  was  to  make 
money  enough  to  come  back  and  buy  a  farm  in  that  town.  He 
got  the  notion  into  his  head  tliat  he  could  make  money  a  good 
deal  faster  if  he  didn't  have  anything  to  do  with  the  church  or 
Christian  people.  He  went  from  town  to  town  seeking  work. 
and  when  he  finally  found  it  he  went  to  church,  because,  he 
said,  his  father  and  mother  used  to  make  him  go  until  he  got 
in  the  habit  of  it.  He  hadn't  been  going  a  great  while  before 
he  heard  the  minister  preach  from  the  text  "  Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteousness;  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you."  "  Why,"  he  said,  "  T  wonder  if 
mother  hasn't  written  to  that  minister  to  preach  from  that 
text!  "  It  seemed  to  him  that  the  minister  was  very  personal, 
and  he  was  a  good  deal  moved ;  but  he  said  to  himself,  "  when 
I  get  settled  in  life  I  will  attend  to  my  soul;  I  am  going  to 
make  money  now."  But  for  days  the  question  troubled  him. 
After  awhile  he  got  out  of  work  in  that  town,  and  went  to  an- 
other place  and  to  another  church,  wdierc  he  soon  heard  the 
minister  preaching  froiu  that  same  text.  He  hadn't  written 
home  to  his  mother  that  he  had  gone  to  another  town,  and  she 
didn't  know  he  was  there,  so  he  thought,  "  Where  did  that 
minister  get  hold  of  anything  about  me?  "  He  did  not  know 
that  it  was  because  God's  Spirit  was  striving  with  him  ;  but  he 
promised  himself  "  When  I  get  a  home  of  my  own.  and  get 
married  and  am  settled  down,  I  will  attend  to  my  soul."  He 
went  to  a  third  town,  and  to  a  third  church,  and  the  minister 


578 


THE    MADMAN'S    MESSAGE. 


preached  from  that  same  text.  It  troubled  him;  he  thought 
it  must  be  in  answer  to  his  mother's  prayers;  it  seemed  as  if 
she  followed  him  from  place  to  place,  for  he  continually  heard 
that  text  ringing  in  his  soul,  but  he  deliberately  said  to  him- 
self, "  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  this  matter  until  I  get 
settled  in  life."  "  Now,"  he  said  to  me,  "  I  go  to  church  every 
Sunday,  but  I  have  never  heard  another  sermon  that  touched 
me." 

I  was  rather  wild  myself  in  those  days,  and  his  story  made 
me  feel  very  uncomfortable,  and  I  changed  the  subject,  and  we 
talked  about  something  else.  Soon  afterwards  I  went  to 
Boston  and  was  converted,  and  you  know  that  when  a  man 
is  converted  he  thinks  if  God  converted  him  he  can  convert 
anybody;  I  thought  if  I  was  converted  my  neighbor  Long 
might  be  converted.  When  I  returned  home  some  years  after, 
I  said  to  my  mother: 

"  Is  Long  living  on  his  old  place  yet?" 

"  Is  he  living?  "  she  said,  "  Didn't  I  write  you  about  him?  " 

"  Write  me  what?"  I  answered. 

"  \\' hy,  he  lost  his  mind  and  was  taken  to  an  institution  in 
Brattleboro.  If  any  of  the  neighbors  call  to  see  him,  he  points 
his  finger  at  them  and  says,  '  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of 
God.'  " 

The  next  summer  he  was  at  home,  so  the  doctor  and  I 
drove  to  his  house,  and  as  I  stepped  up  to  the  door  I  said: 

"  Mr.  Long,  do  you  remember  me?" 

I  thought  he  was  going  to  shake  hands;  but,  instead  of 
that,  he  pointed  his  finger  at  mc  and  said: 

"  Young  man,  '  Seek  yc  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  His 
righteousness;  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.'  " 

T  talked  about  matters  that  he  and  I  used  to  know  about, 
but  while  his  mind  was  a  ])erfcct  blank  on  these  things,  the 
text  that  his  mother  gave  him,  and  the  text  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  gave  him,  was  still  there. 

The  next  time  I  returned  home  he  was  in  liis  grave,  within 
a  few  yards  of  the  spot  where  my  father  and  youngest  brother 


KALI.    OF    THK    HKMHKKTOX    MILL. 


579 


were  buried.  As  I  looked  over  to  Long's  grave  it  seemed  as 
if  I  could  hear  the  text  coming  up  from  it,  "  Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  His  righteousness ;  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you."  I  never  go  to  that  cemetery  that 
I  don't  look  over  to  Long's  grave.  I  believe  that  the  greatest 
mistake  that  he  ever  made  in  all  the  years  that  he  was  on  this 
earth  was  that  he  didn't  give  himself  uj)  to  be  led  by  the  vSpirit 
of  God. 

I  knew  of  a  young  man  who  wanted  to  become  a  Christian, 
whose  father  was  a  worldly  man,  full  of  ambition  and  a  desire 
to  make  his  way  in  the  world.  His  son  went  to  him  and  told 
him  his  wish.  The  father  turned  around  in  astonishment,  and 
said:  "  My  son,  you  are  making  a  mistake.  You  had  better 
wait  until  you  get  established  in  business;  wait  till  you  are 
older;  w^ait  till  you  make  some  money;  there  is  plenty  of  time 
yet  to  become  a  Christian."  Does  any  young  man  believe 
that? 

You  may  neglect  to  repent  one  day  too  long.  God  com- 
mands you  to  do  it  nozv.  We  have  got  to  enter  through  the 
door  of  repentance  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  There  is  no 
other  way.  The  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  have 
all  got  to  go  in  the  same  way  —  on  their  hands  and  knees. 

I  had  a  friend  during  the  Chicago  fire  who  became  so  stifled 
with  smoke  that  he  lay  down  to  die.  But  as  he  lay  on  the 
ground  he  got  beneath  the  smoke  and  crawled  out  on  his  hands 
and  knees.  I  tell  you  when  a  man  gets  on  his  knees  and  says, 
"  God  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner,"  God  will  forgive  him  and 
bless  him.  And  so  if  there  is  anyone  that  wants  to  be  saved 
let  him  say,  "  God  helping  me,  I  will  turn  my  face  toward 
heaven ;  "  and,  if  need  be,  God  will  send  legions  of  angels  to 
help  him. 

A  number  of  years  ago  the  great  Pemberton  ?^Iill  at  Law- 
rence, jMass.,  fell.  There  was  only  one  room  left  entire,  and 
in  it  were  imprisoned  twenty-five  or  thirty  operatives,  mostly 
young  girls.  All  business  was  suspended,  and  everybody 
went  to  work  with  a  will  with  shovels  and  picks  and  crowbars 


58o 


GOINCt    Hf)ME. 


to  set  them  free.  Xiglit  came  on,  aiul  they  had  not  reached 
them.  I)}-  some  mischance  a  lantern  broke;  there  was  an  ex- 
plosion of  gas,  and  th.e  ruins  caught  fire.  They  tried  to  put 
cut  the  fire,  but  did  not  succeed  They  couhl  talk  with  the 
imprisoned  ones,  and  even  pass  refreshments  to  them  and 
encourage  them  to  keep  up.  But  alas!  the  flames  drew  nearer 
and  nearer.  Superhuman  were  the  efforts  made  to  rescue 
them;  the  men  bravely  fought  back  the  fiames;  but  the  fire 
gained  fresh  strength  and  returned  to  claim  its  victims.  Then 
piercing  shrieks  arose  when  the  spectators  saw  that  the  efforts 
of  the  firemen  were  hopeless.  The  young  girls  realized  their 
fate,  and  they  knelt  down  and  began  to  sing  the  hymn  we  all 
were  taught  in  our  Sunday-school  days: 

'■  Let  others  seek  a  home  below, 
Which  flames  devour  and  waves  o'ertlow. 
I'm  going  home,  I'm  going  home, 
I'm  going  home  to  die  no  more." 

The  ilames  had  now  reached  them;  they  sank,  one  by  one; 
a  few  moments  more  and  the  fire  circled  around  them,  and 
their  souls  were  taken  into  the  bosom  of  Christ.  "S'^es,  let 
others  seek  a  home  below,  if  they  will,  but  "  Seek  ye  first  the 
kingdom  of  God,"  zvilh  all  your  Jicart. 

NoTK.  —  On  tlie  tenth  of  January,  i860,  a  defedtive  pillar  in  the  Pemberton 
Mill  gave  way,  and,  without  a  moment's  warning,  the  whole  strutlure  fell. 
Seven  hundred  operatives,  many  of  them  young  girls  and  women,  were  caught 
in  the  ruins.  Of  these,  eighly-eight  were  killed,  and  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  injured,  a  number  of  whom  subsequently  died.  The  number  of  those, 
who  perished  in  the  flames  is  not  positively  known.  —  [Eu. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

SOCIAL    AND    WORLDLY    AMUSEMENTS. 

The  Boy  Who  Shunned  His  Father  —  "  Oh,  He  Is  An  Old  Fogy  " — 
Marrying  a  Man  to  Convert  Him  —  Tottering  Homes  and  Blasted 
Lives  —  Where  Sorrow  and  Disaster  Thrive  —  The  Banker  and 
His  Dishonest  Partners — Dying  of  a  Broken  Heart  —  Northficld 
Boys  and  Early  Apples  —  Straddling  the  Fence  —  An  Incident  of 
the  Civil  War — Putting  Up  the  Wrong  Flag  —  The  Converted 
Man  Who  Wouldn't  Give  Up  Anything  —  Is  it  Right  to  Dance?  — 
Shall  I  Go  To  The  Theater? —  "  This  Is  No  Place  for  Me  " — 
"  Don't  Make  a  Fool  of  Yourself  "  —  Distilling  Whiskey  for  the 
Glory  of  God  —  "  Come,  Moody,  Let's  Have  a  Game  "  —  Card 
Parties  —  "  Chutter,  Chuttcr,  Chutter  "  —  "  The  Man  that  Comes 
here  Sundays  "  —  Footprints  in  the  Snow. 

A  FATHER  told  mc  that  once  after  he  had  been  away 
from  home  Ins  wife  and  cliildren  were  filled  with  joy 
on  his  return.  But  one  l:)oy  was  missing,  and  the 
father  looked  around  and  said,  "  Where  is  John?  "  The  boy 
had  gone  into  the  fields,  and  the  father  went  out  to  find  him; 
and  it  turned  out  that  he  had  been  very  disobedient  while  his 
father  was  awa\-.  That  was  the  reason  why  the  boy  did  not 
wish  to  see  him.  It  is  the  first  impulse  of  every  one  of  us  when 
we  do  wrong  to  get  as  far  away  from  God  as  we  can.  If  a 
child  has  wronged  his  parents  he  doesn't  want  to  see  them. 

How  many  in  our  great  cities  break  the  Sabbath  and  dis- 
regard the  sanctuary,  and  then  wonder  why  they  have  so  much 
trouble  and  so  much  sorrow.  Tiiere's  no  wonder  about  it! 
There's  no  mystery  about  it!  Isn't  the  truth  plain?  Hasn't 
God  warned?  Hasn't  He  said  that  He  will  turn  the  way  of 
the  wicked  upside  down?  Hasn't  the  King  of  Heaven  de- 
creed tliat  the  wicked  shall  not  prosper?     If  you  lightly  esteem 

(581) 


^82  TRUTH    NEVER    GROWS    OLD. 

His  Word,  and  His  statutes,  He  will  lightly  esteem  you,  and 
you  can't  expect  His  blessing. 

People  talk  about  the  Bible  being  old,  and  say,  "  it  was 
good  enough  for  the  dark  ages,  but  we  can  get  on  very  well 
without  it."  Why  don't  you  say  the  same  about  the  sun? 
The  sun  is  old!  When  you  build  a  house,  why  do  you  put 
any  windows  in?  \\'hy  don't  }0U  put  in  electric  light?  Tliat 
is  new!  The  sun  is  too  old;  it  is  worn  out!  Well,  it  was  good 
enough  for  the  fathers,  but  you  want  something  new.  Let  us 
throw  the  sun  away  with  the  old  Bible;  if  you  are  going  to 
throw  the  Bible  away,  let  the  two  go  together.  Truth  is  just 
as  good  to-day  as  it  has  ever  been.  It  is  in  its  youth;  truth 
never  grows  old;  take  the  Word  of  God  and  live  according  to 
its  teachings,  and  let  that  be  your  guide,  and  it  will  save  you 
from  ten  thousand  pitfalls.  Men  close  the  Bible  and  then  run 
off  to  things  just  contrary  to  its  teachings,  and  then  they  get 
into  trouble  and  say  that  the  Christian  life  isn't  what  they 
thought  it  was;  that  they  have  found  out  that  the  way  is  hard 
and  difficult. 

I  honestly  believe  that  what  we  want  to-day  is  somebody 
who  will  go  through  the  land  with  a  voice  like  a  trumpet  to 
call  the  church  of  God  out  of  the  world.  The  church  and  the 
world  have  got  so  mixed  up  that  the  lines  are  obliterated. 
When  any  one  tries  to  draw  the  line,  people  say: 

"  Oh,  he  is  an  old  fogy;  you  don't  want  anything  to  do 
with  that  man;  he  belongs  to  the  past  ages;  that  was  good 
enough  theology  ages  ago,  but  it  won't  do  nowadays.  People 
have  gotten  out  of  the  dark  ages,  and  the  world  is  so  cultured 
now  that  there  isn't  much  difference  between  the  world  and 
the  church;  they  are  pretty  near  alike.  When  the  Lord  said, 
'  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  together  with  unbelievers,'  He 
didn't  mean  anything  by  it.  Of  course  we  won't  swear,  and 
get  drunk,  and  all  that;  that  is  what  it  means;  it  doesn't  mean 
that  a  godly  woman  shan't  marry  an  ungodly  man.  No,  let 
a  godly,  sainted  woman  marry  a  godless,  Christless  man,  and 
see  if  she  can't  convert  him!  " 


A    COMMON    DELUSION. 


583 


I  have  heard  many  a  woman  say,  "  When  I  was  married  I 
thoujjht  I  could  lead  my  husband  and  be  the  means  of  his 
conversion.  lie  drank  some,  but  he  promised  me  when  we 
were  married  that  he  would  give  it  up.  He  didn't  get  drunk 
on  our  wedding  trip,  but  he  was  drunk  very  soon  after." 
There  is  many  a  mother  whose  life  is  as  dark  as  hell,  and  many 
a  family  that  has  been  wrecked  because  a  woman  went  directly 
against  the  word  of  God. 

It  is  not  for  you,  young  people,  who  have  not  seen  as  much 
of  life  and  the  world  as  some  others,  to  dispute  this.  You  can 
see  it  is  plain.  There  is  not  a  mother  that  would  not  feel  badly 
to  have  a  daughter  marry  a  man  who  would  abuse  her  and 
make  her  life  wretched.  There  is  not  a  father  who  would  not  be 
made  miserable  by  such  a  probability.  Do  you  suppose  God 
does  not  feel  it  to  have  one  of  His  sons  or  daughters  marry 
an  unregenerate  and  unconverted  person  who  hates  Him  and 
would  misrepresent  and  abuse  Him?  You  say,  "Yes,  but  I 
shall  influence  my  husband  after  we  are  married."  Well,  in- 
fluence him  before  you  are  married. 

The  most  subtle  and  deceitful  hope  which  ever  existed,  and 
one  which  has  wrecked  the  happiness  of  many  a  young  girl's 
life,  is  the  common  delusion  that  a  woman  can  best  reform  a 
man  by  marrying  him.  It  is  a  mystery  to  me  how  people  can 
be  so  blind  to  the  hundreds  of  cases  in  every  community  where 
homes  have  fallen  and  innocent  lives  have  been  wrecked  be- 
cause some  young  girl  has  persisted  in  marrying  a  scoundrel 
in  the  hope  of  saving  him.  I  have  never  known  such  a  union. 
and  I  have  seen  hundreds  of  them,  result  in  anything  but  sor- 
row and  disaster.  "  Be  ye  not  unequally  yoked  together  with 
unbelievers."  Some  men  say  that  such  a  union  is  easy.  Sup- 
pose that  a  club  is  formed  of  a  hundred  members,  and  seventy- 
five  of  them  are  unbelievers,  and  twenty-five  are  believers,  and 
they  w^ant  to  get  me  in.  I  join  it,  and  by  and  by  they  vote  to 
have  an  excursion  on  the  Sabbath.  Where  is  D.  L.  Aloody 
then?  Where  is  my  influence  then?  No  child  of  God  can 
identify  himself  with  unbelievers  without  getting  into  trouble. 


584 


PARTNERSHIP    WITH    THK    IXCJODLY. 


A  banker  once  came  to  me  in  great  distress  and  said  his 
two  partners  in  business  had  made  up  their  minds  to  do  a  very 
disrei)utable  thing  that  wouUl  conijironiise  his  Christian  char- 
acter, and  lie  was  greatly  agitated  over  it.     I  asked: 

"Will  you  tell  me  when  you  formed  that  partnership?" 

"  Five  years  ago." 

"How  long  have  }-ou  been  a  Cliristian?" 

"  Twenty-five  years." 

"  And  you  took  these  ungodly  men  into  partnership  with 
you;  did  you  read  what  the  IHl^le  says  about  that?" 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  thought  I  could  make  money  faster, 
and  have  more  to  give  to  the  Lord." 

When  godly  men  yoke  themselves  up  with  ungodly  men 
because  they  can  make  money  faster,  they  are  sure  to  get  into 
trouble.  I  told  him  he  had  tied  himself  to  two  ungodly  men 
and  he  was  going  to  suffer.  And  he  did  suffer.  To-day  his 
testimony  is  gone  and  liis  intiuence  has  been  swept  away. 
How  manv  partnerships  there  are  in  that  condition,  the  ])art- 
ners  bound  by  a  written  contract  drawn  by  a  lawyer!  A  good 
many  people  think  tliey  are  going  to  make  more  by  forming 
ungodly  alliances;  but  you  can't  find  a  case  in  the  Ihble  where 
a  man  ever  made  auNthing  l)y  selling  his  principles;  not  one 
who  did  not  lose  by  going  against  the  word  of  God. 

When  an  ungodly  man  oft'ers  his  hand  to  a  godly  woman, 
and  she  accepts  it  because  he  is  rich,  the  curse  of  ( lod  is  ujwn 
that  woman.  T  never  knew  of  two  ])e()])le  being  yoked  to- 
gether in  that  way  who  did  not  wreck  their  families  and  lead 
miserable,  wretched  lives.  For  a  godly  man  to  marry  a  god- 
less, Christless  woman  is  to  mal-e  tlnir  home  and  lives  dark 
and  dreary;  but  for  a  godly,  consecrated  Christian  minister  to 
marry  a  woman  that  sneers  at  Christ,  the  Bible,  and  Chris- 
tianity is  shocking;  it  is  downright  sin;  and  T  hope  by  and  by 
the  sentiment  of  the  church  will  be  so  strong  against  it  that 
ministers  won't  marry  such  women.  A  godly  man  has  no 
right  to  ask  a  godless  woman  for  her  hand,  and  a  godless  man 
has  no  right  to  ask  a  godly  woman  for  her  heart  and  hand. 


o\  Tin-;   ik)ri)1':r    land. 


;85 


A  lady  in  Chicago  was  vci"}'  inucli  ofFcndcd  witli  nic  for 
telling'  her  that  she  ought  not  to  marry  a  godless  husb;ind. 
That  was  not  long  after  I  started  to  preach.  Her  life  was 
blasted,  and  she  died  of  a  broken  heart.  Her  husband  was 
very  angry  because  I  preached  a  sermon  on  that  subject,  but 
he  lived  long  enough  to  know  that  I  was  right.  His  life  W'as 
wretched,  and  her  life  was  wretched  ;  and  the  children  when 
they  started  out  in  life  didn't  know  where  to  go.  Think  of 
children  in  homes  like  that ! 

There  is  a  class  of  people  who  think  they  can  live  just  on 
the  border  of  the  world  and  be  constantly  slipping  over  into 
the  world.  They  want  to  make  the  most  of  this  world;  they 
think  that  is  the  highest  type  of  Christianity.  I  think  it  is  the 
lowest  type!  I  remember  when  I  was  a  boy  in  Northfield 
there  was  an  apple  tree  right  near  the  old  red  schoolhouse  that 
bore  the  earliest  kind  of  apples,  and  when  they  were  ripe  they 
always  turned  red.  The  tree  grew  on  the  other  side  of  a  fence, 
but  some  of  the  boughs  hung  over  the  road.  It  was  an  un- 
written law  in  that  town  that  anything  that  hung  over  the  road 
was  public  property.  We  boys  would  watch,  and  the  moment 
we  saw  a  streak  of  red  we  would  get  that  apple,  for  fear  some 
other  boy  would  get  it.  I  never  got  a  ripe  apple  ofT  that  tree. 
It  got  more  clubbings  and  had  more  broken  boughs  than  any 
other  tree  in  town,  because  it  was  a  border  tree.  These  border 
Christians  get  more  clubbings  than  all  the  rest  put  together; 
they  are  clubbed  by  the  church,  and  clubbed  by  the  world. 
The  world  doesn't  have  any  confidence  in  them,  nor  the  church 
either,  and  they  don't  have  much  confidence  in  tliemselves.  I 
don't  see  why  so  many  want  to  1)c  border  Christians;  the  best 
thing  you  can  do  is  to  get  as  far  away  from  the  border  as 
you  can. 

During  the  Civil  War  some  of  those  people  who  lived  in 
border  cities  didn't  know  just  on  which  side  to  jump;  they 
had  friends  in  the  South  and  friends  in  the  North,  and  they 
didn't  want  to  go  with  either  side;  so  they  straddled  the  fence. 
When  the  Southern  army  came,  these  people  shouted  them- 


586 


THE    WRONG    FLAG. 


selves  hoarse  for  the  South;  and  when  the  Northern  army 
came,  they  did  the  same  thing  for  the  North.  Some  of  them 
went  too  far  and  got  two  flags;  when  they  saw  the  Union  army 
coming,  np  went  the  stars  and  stripes;  and  when  they  saw  the 
Confederate  army  coming,  up  went  the  stars  and  bars.  One 
day  a  boy  put  out  his  flag,  and  the  family  forgot  to  take  it  in; 
it  was  the  wrong  flag  for  the  next  army,  and  when  the  soldiers 
came,  what  did  they  do?  Why,  they  just  burned  their  build- 
ings —  burned  them  all  up.  You  don't  think  much  of  a  man 
who  is  on  both  sides  of  the  fence;  who  is  trying  to  live  for  the 
world  and  be  counted  for  God.  It  is  a  good  deal  better,  if  you 
want  power  and  peace,  to  come  out  on  the  Lord's  side. 

People  come  to  me  and  say,  "  Mr.  Moody,  what  do  you 
think  about  this  amusement  or  that  amusement?"  I  will  tell 
you  what  I  think:  if  it  interrupts  your  communication  with 
God,  give  it  up.  Men  are  all  the  time  taking  false  steps,  be- 
cause they  are  not  willing  to  be  led  by  the  Spirit.  Do  you 
think  that  so  many  men  would  go  to  ruin  if  they  would  let  the 
Spirit  lead  them?  The  question  of  public  amusements  often 
comes  up  and  it  is  frequently  asked,  "  Is  it  right  to  dance?  " 
All  I  have  to  say  is,  if  the  Spirit  of  God  says  dance,  then 
dance.  Give  Christians  something  better  to  do  and  they  won't 
want  dancing.  When  my  eldest  son  was  a  little  boy  he  was 
very  fond  of  getting  hold  of  the  scissors  to  play  with ;  and  his 
mother  was  afraid  that  he  would  dig  his  eyes  out,  or  get  hurt  in 
some  way.  One  day  he  was  playing  with  them,  when  his  sister 
saw  him  and  tried  to  take  them  away ;  but  he  only  held  on  to 
them  the  tighter.  Then  she  ran,  got  an  orange,  and  held  it  up, 
saying,  "  Willie,  want  an  orange?  "  and  he  dropped  those  scis- 
sors in  a  minute.  So  with  dancing  Christians  ;  they  will  always 
go  for  the  better  thing.  If  a  dancing  Christian  isn't  quite  sure 
whether  it  is  right  or  wrong  to  dance,  just  let  him  give  Christ 
the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  Let  him  pray  over  it;  and  if  he  has 
any  doubt  then,  give  it  up. 

A  Christian  mother  said  she  wanted  her  son  to  go  to  a 
dancing  school  because  he  was  so  awkward ;  she  wanted  him  to 


GITIDKD    BY    THE    SPIRIT.  587 

be  more  graceful,  —  wanted  him  to  get  grace  in  his  heels,  you 
see,  instead  of  his  heart.  After  six  weeks  he  had  made  such 
poor  progress  that  she  took  him  out  of  the  school  in  disgust 
and  chided  him.     Said  he : 

"  I'm  sorry,  mother,  I'm  so  stupid  about  it,  but  I  can't  do 
any  better.     You  see,  it's  one  of  the  things  I  can't  pray  over." 

You  couldn't  conceive  of  Paul  dancing.  The  idea  of  Noah 
dancing  and  playing  cards  in  the  ark,  while  the  world  was 
perishing!  The  world  is  perishing  now,  as  much  as  it  was 
then.  Let  the  Spirit  of  God  be  your  teacher,  and  you  will  see 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  Men  say,  "  Is  it  consistent 
for  me  to  go  to  the  theater?  "  Christ's  principle  is  that  you 
are  to  give  yourself  up  to  the  Spirit  of  the  Word.  Then  you 
will  be  guided  aright  and  make  no  mistake. 

A  man  once  told  me  that  he  had  been  converted,  but  he 
said  he  hadn't  given  up  anything,  and  wasn't  going  to  give  up 
anything.  He  afterwards  told  me  he  went  to  the  theater,  but 
he  didn't  stay  there,  for  he  had  no  desire  to;  that  he  couldn't 
read  novels,  for  he  had  lost  his  taste  for  them.  The  reason 
was  simple.  When  a  man  is  filled  with  the  Spirit  he  will  cease 
to  love  many  things  he  once  did;  his  love  will  be  turned  into 
another  channel.  Men  say  that  they  can't  give  up  this  thing 
or  that.  Let  the  Spirit  of  God  get  into  their  hearts,  and  they 
can.  They  can't  do  it  themselves,  but  God  can  do  it  for  them. 
The  teaching  of  the  Word  is  that  if  you  take  the  Spirit  of  God 
it  will  enlighten  you  and  cast  out  darkness. 

A  lady  came  to  me,  in  a  city  where  I  was  preaching  a  few 
years  ago,  and  said: 

"  I  wish  you  would  tell  me  how  to  become  a  Christian;  but 
I  want  to  be  honest  with  you,  —  I  don't  want  to  become  one 
of  your  kind." 

"  Why,"  I  asked,  "  have  I  got  any  peculiar  kind  of  Chris- 
tianity?" 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  I  want  to  be  a  Christian,  but  I  don't 
want  to  give  up  the  theater." 

"  I  have  been  preaching  here  six  months,  and  one  news- 


S88 


A    THEATER-GOER. 


paper  has  been  giving  a  verbatim  report  of  my  sermons  every 
day;  have  you  seen  a  word  from  me  about  theaters?" 

"  Why,  no." 

"  I  have  seen  you  at  our  meetings  frequentl}-  in  the  after- 
noon, have  you  heard  me  say  anything  about  theaters?" 

"  No,  I  haven't." 

"  A\'cll,  will  you  tell  me  what  you  brought  that  subject 
up  for?  " 

"  Why,"  she  said,  "  I  didn't  suppose  you  believed  in  the 
theater." 

"  WHiat  right  have  you  to  think  that  of  me?  " 

"  I  don't  know;  do  you  ever  go  to  the  theater?  " 

"  No,  I  never  was  in  a  theater  in  my  life,  only  to  preach." 

"  Why  don't  you  go?  " 

"  Because  I  have  no  taste  for  it,  I  have  no  desire  for  the 
theater;  I  have  got  something  better.  I  would  rather  be  the 
instrument  in  God's  hands  of  leading  you  into  the  peace  and 
joy  that  I  have  found  in  Christ  Jesus  than  have  anything  else 
in  all  the  world.     There  is  no  joy  like  it." 

"  Well,"  she  said,  "  I  can't  understand  that." 

"  No,  I  am  sure  you  can't;  therefore  I  will  talk  to  you  about 
something  you  can  understand;"  and  I  talked  about  Jesus 
Christ.     After  a  while  she  said: 

"Well,  Mr.  Moody,  I  do  think  His  character  is  lovely; 
when  you  preached  last  night  my  heart  was  just  breaking  be- 
cause I  do  love  Him,  and  I  want  to  be  His;  but  T  don't  want 
to  give  up  the  theater." 

"  Let  us  talk  about  Christ,"  I  said,  and  I  got  her  back 
again  to  talk  about  llim.     I'y  and  by  she  said: 

''  If  I  become  a  Christian,  can  I  go  to  the  theater?  " 

"  Yes."  I  said,  "  if  }'ou  can  go  with  the  glory  of  God  in 
view,  you  can  go  to  the  theater  all  you  want  to." 

"  Well,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  I  will  be  a  Christian 
if  I  can  only  go  to  the  theater." 

"  My  good  woman,"  I  said,  "  let  Christ  have  the  first  ]ilace 
in  your  heart,  and  he  will  regulate  all  your  life." 


"rill^    IS    NO    I'l.ACK    FOR    ME." 


589 


After  prater  she  wiped  her  tears  awa}-,  and  said: 

"  The  burden  is  gone.  I  really  believe  I  have  been  con- 
verted.    But  I  am  not  going  to  give  up  the  theater." 

"  I  am  sorry  you  have  brought  that  up  again,"  I  said.  She 
was  going  out  of  town,  and  as  she  shook  hands  and  bade  me 
good  bye,  she  said: 

"  I  am  going  to  the  theater,  after  all." 

Not  long  afterwards  she  came  to  me  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  understand  it  all  now." 

"  How  is  that?"  I  said. 

"  Well,  you  know  my  father  is  a  doctor,  and  has  a  large 
practice,  and  very  little  recreation,  and  he  used  to  take  us  to 
the  theater  more  than  to  the  church.  My  husband  is  a  lawyer, 
and  he  gets  so  tired  during  the  day  that  he  wants  to  go  to  the 
theater  at  night  for  rest  and  amusement,  and  so  we  have  a  box 
in  a  leading  theater.  The  other  night  we  had  company,  and 
my  husband  was  very  anxious  to  go,  and  I  went;  I  never 
thought  of  anything  wrong.  Somehow  or  other,  when  the 
curtain  lifted  everything  seemed  different,  and  I  said,  '  This  is 
no  place  for  me.'  Then  my  husband  said,  '  Don't  make  a  fool 
of  yourself;  it  is  said  all  around  that  you  have  been  to  the 
bloody  meetings  and  been  converted,  and  if  you  go  out  it  will 
be  the  talk  of  fashionable  society.'  I  said,  '  I  think  I  have 
made  a  fool  of  myself  all  my  life,'  and  I  got  up  and  went  out. 
The  theater  hadn't  changed,  but  I  had  changed." 

I  would  rather  have  one  night  in  an  after-meeting  and  be 
used  of  God  to  lead  a  poor  drunkard  away  from  his  cups  and 
send  him  home  to  be  a  comfort  and  a  blessing  to  his  wife  and 
family  than  to  attend  all  the  theaters  in  the  world!  If  I  am 
conscious  of  anything  that  will  injure  my  testimony  or  weaken 
my  influence,  or  hinder  me  from  doing  God's  work.  T  \\ill  give 
it  up  at  once.  The  idea  of  my  sitting  down  to  discuss  for  one 
minute  the  question  whether  I  will  give  up  worldlv  things  for 
the  luxury  and  the  joy  of  being  a  co-worker  with  God!  The 
idea  of  a  child  of  God  sitting  down  and  discussing  whether  he 
shall  give  up  this  or  that  thing  which  will  interfere  with  his 


590 


DO    ALL    TO    THE    GLORY    OF    GOD. 


Christian  life!  My  dear  friends,  Jesus  laid  down  no  rules,  but 
He  laid  down  great  principles.  If  you  love  Him,  you  will 
love  to  please  Him,  and  that  is  all  there  is  to  it. 

I  was  once  in  a  town  in  England  where  they  made  more 
whiskey  than  in  any  other  place  in  the  country;  the  smell  of 
whiskey  pervaded  the  whole  place;  the  very  air  was  charged 
with  whiskey.  There  w^as  a  young  man  there  who  had  a  large 
distillery  which  had  been  left  to  him  by  his  father.  I  came  out 
against  the  whiskey  business  the  best  I  knew  how.  The  young 
man  came  to  see  me  and  said  he  wanted  to  square  his  life  in 
accordance  with  the  word  of  God,  and  that  if  I  would  show 
him  just  one  passage  of  Scripture  which  condemned  making 
whiskey  he  would  give  it  up.  I  said,  "  I  can  give  you  a  good 
many,  but  here  is  one:  '  Whether,  therefore,  ye  eat,  or  drink, 
or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God.'  If  you  can 
distill  whiskey  for  the  glory  of  God,  keep  right  on  distilling 
whiskey!  "  I  should  like  to  see  a  distiller  make  a  hundred 
barrels  of  whiskey  and  then  get  down  and  pray  that  it  might 
be  a  blessing  to  anybody  that  would  drink  it!  I  asked  him  if 
he  ever  heard  of  a  whiskey  manufacturer  praying  over  his 
business? 

If  you  are  invited  to  go  to  questionable  places,  ask  your- 
self, "  Can  I  pray  if  I  go  there?  "  If  you  can  pray  over  it,  go; 
if  you  can't  pray  over  it,  keep  out  of  it. 

You  may  have  grand  precepts,  but  if  they  are  against 
your  living  they  are  of  no  use  to  you.  If  a  mother  is  mourn- 
ing over  her  son  because  he  is  a  gambler,  and  that  mother 
played  cards  with  him  at  home,  is  any  one  to  blame  but  herself? 
When  I  was  a  commercial  traveler  I  didn't  know  one  card  from 
another;  I  was  thrown  in  with  other  commercial  travelers,  and 
they  would  frequently  say  to  me,  "  Come,  Moody,  let's  have 
a  game."  And  I  would  re])ly,  "  I  don't  know  how  to  play." 
Thank  God,  T  did  not;  that  was  a  grand  help  to  me,  and  I  say 
it  will  be  a  grand  help  to  your  boys  if  they  don't  know  one 
card  from  the  other.  If  you  teach  your  boys  to  play  at  home 
just  for  amusement,  they  may  by  and  by  play  with  one  an- 


SHALL    WE    LOSE    INFLUENCE? 


591 


Other  for  cigarettes,  and  then  for  money.  There  is  many  a 
home  where  the  mother  has  given  her  boy  his  first  start  down 
hill  by  playing  cards  with  him.  If  you  have  card  parties,  I 
advise  you,  as  Christian  people,  to  open  them  with  prayer. 
Isn't  that  good  advice?  What  do  you  say?  Just  open  them 
with  prayer,  and  then  if  the  prayer  won't  go,  the  cards 
won't  go. 

I  know  some  foolish  people  that  say,  "  If  we  give  up  all 
these  things  we  will  lose  our  influence  over  the  world."  I 
never  knew  it  to  work-that  way.     A  lady  once  said  to  me: 

"  My  husband  said  he  would  go  to  church  every  Sunday 
with  me  if  I  would  go  to  the  theater  with  him;  I  thought  it 
would  be  a  good  thing  to  get  him  to  attend  church,  and  so  I 
went  to  the  theater  with  him." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  how  has  it  worked?  " 

"  Oh,"  she  said,  "  it  hasn't  worked  at  all;  he  doesn't  have 
the  same  respect  for  my  religion  that  he  did  before  I  yielded; 
I  let  down  my  principles,  and  he  suddenly  lost  his  respect  for 
me.  He  doesn't  go  to  church  at  all;  he  wants  me  to  go  to 
church,  but  he  won't  go  with  me.  Not  only  that,  but  I  have 
been  losing  ground  right  along,  and  I  am  a  good  deal  farther 
from  the  kingdom  of  God  than  when  I  married  him." 

That  is  the  same  story  all  over  the  world.  The  mirth  that 
cheers  the  worldly  will  freeze  a  true  child  of  God. 

A  friend  of  mine  had  a  beautiful  canary  bird  that  was  a 
very  sweet  singer.  The  spring  came,  and  he  thought  it  was 
a  pity  to  keep  the  bird  in  the  house,  so  he  put  it  out  under  a 
tree.  Before  he  knew  it  a  lot  of  English  sparrows  came 
around,  —  and  you  know  they  can't  sing  any  more  than  I  can. 
They  just  chutter,  chuttcr,  chutter,  cluitter;  and  before  he  knew 
it  his  little  canary  had  lost  all  its  sweet  notes.  As  soon  as  he 
found  it  out  he  took  him  back  into  the  house.  He  bought 
another  bird  —  a  fine  singer  —  and  ])ut  the  two  together  to 
see  if  his  canary  wouldn't  get  back  its  sweet  notes;  but  it  never 
sang  quite  as  sweetly  as  it  did  before  it  got  in  with  those 
sparrows.     That  is  about  the  condition  of  the  church;  nine 

16 


592 


DRIFTING    AWAY. 


out  of  ten  professing  Christians  simply  chutter,  chutter,  chutter, 
chntter,  talk,  talk,  talk,  talk.  They  don't  say  anything.  No 
power.  No  consecrated  life  back  of  their  words.  Professing 
what  they  don't  possess.  Some  men  live  skim  milk  and  talk 
cream.  It  is  better  to  live  cream  and  talk  skim  milk.  May 
God  tell  us  each  how  to  get  into  sweet  fellowship  with  Him, 
and  have  power  with  God  and  man. 

We  don't  walk  uprightly.  I  believe  that  is  the  reason  why 
the  blessing  is  withheld.  Many  a  mother  is  weeping  over  a 
son  who  has  gone  to  ruin,  and  many  a  father  is  overwhelmed 
with  shame  by  the  conduct  of  his  children.  Once  when  I  was 
on  the  Pacilic  coast  I  was  entertained  at  a  friend's  home,  and 
the  father  said  to  me: 

"  I  have  three  sons  who  bear  my  name,  and  they  are  a  dis- 
grace to  me;  T  am  ashaiued  of  them." 

lie  was  just  beginning  to  taste  the  bitterness  from  the  seed 
he  had  been  sowing  for  years.  He  had  lived  a  worldly  life  and 
been  identified  with  many  things  outside  of  his  home,  and  the 
reaping  time  came  while  he  was  giving  his  attention  to  clubs, 
politics,  and  such  things.  Soon  the  boys  came  in  and  I  got 
acquainted  with  them,  and  I  found  that  they  had  drifted  right 
away  from  their  father. 

One  day  the  father  stepped  into  a  room  with  me  and  locked 
the  door  and  said: 

"  Mr.  Moody,  I  want  to  talk  with  you  a  little."  And  then 
he  began  to  weep.  He  had  a  beautiful  home,  and  his  sur- 
roundings seemed  to  be  unusually  jjleasant.     He  said; 

"  I  have  three  sons,  and  all  of  them  have  gone  to  ruin.  I 
don't  know  why  it  is  that  (iod  has  dealt  so  severely  with  me." 

I  had  been  in  the  Ikjusc  for  some  time  and  had  been 
watching  things  a  little,  and  I  said; 

"Will  you  allow  me  to  ask  a  few  questions?" 

"  Certainly." 

"Where  do  you  spend  Monday  night?" 

"  Oh,  I  am  a  member  of  the  Common  Council;  I  am  at  the 
Council  meetings  Monday  nights  as  a  city  officer."     He  was 


A    NEGLECTFUL    FATHER. 


593 


then  trying  to  be  elected  mayor  of  the  city,  and  he  had  been 
fishing  for  the  ofifice  for  years. 

"  Where  do  you  spend  Tuesday  night?" 

"  T  go  down  to  the  Young  People's  meetings;  I  am  senior 
deacon,  and  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  attend  those  meetings." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  strike  out  Tuesday  night.  Where  are 
you  Wednesday  night?"     lie  hesitated,  but  finally  said: 

"  I  am  a  Mason." 

It  turned  out  that  he  was  at  a  Masonic  lodge  every 
Wednesday  night.     So  we  struck  out  Wednesday  night. 

"  Where  are  you  Thursday  night?  " 

''  I  am  always  at  home  on  Thursday  night." 

"  You  are  a  public  man,  a  popular  man,  and  you  are  trying 
to  be  elected  mayor  of  the  city.  I  suppose  you  have  political 
calls  evenings?  " 

"Oh,  yes!" 

"  How  about  Friday  night?  " 

"  Friday  night  is  our  regular  prayer-meeting  night,  and  I 
always  go  there." 

"  W^ell,  strike  out  Friday  night.  Where  are  you  Saturday 
night?  " 

"  Oh,  Saturday  night  T  am  always  at  home." 

"  Yes,  I  noticed  you  were  last  Saturday  night,  and  I  saw 
that  you  went  into  your  room  and  locked  yourself  in  to  get 
your  Sunday-school  lesson.  So  we  will  strike  out  Saturday 
night.     On  Sunday  night  where  are  you?" 

"  I  am  always  at  the  church  service." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  wc  will  strike  out  Sunday  night.  The 
nights  are  all  gone,  and  that  has  been  your  life  all  these  years 
while  your  boys  have  been  going  to  ruin.  I  notice  in  the 
morning  the  boys  are  in  a  hurry,  and  you  are  in  a  hurry,  and 
when  the  boys  went  to  school  they  couldn't  stop  to  prayers. 
Sometimes  you  have  family  worship,  and  sometimes  you  don't; 
sometimes  you  have  it  alone,  and  sometimes  some  of  the  chil- 
dren are  there.  You  don't  come  home  to  lunch,  you  have  a 
late  dinner,  and  sometimes  you   see  your  children  only   at 


-g,  MAKE    HOME    A    PLEASANT    PLACE. 

dinner  time.  That  is  all  you  see  of  them.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  your  boys  have  gone  wrong?  You  have  been  trying  to 
be  a  good  man,  but  you  have  looked  after  other  people's  vine- 
vards,  and  have  not  taken  care  of  your  own.  You  have  been 
giving  your  time  to  the  public,  to  the  church,  to  politics,  and 
secret  societies,  and  Satan  has  walked  right  in  under  your  eyes 
and  taken  your  children.  They  don't  care  for  you;  they  don't 
know  much  about  you;  they  are  boys  that  you  don't  know;  is 
anyone  to  blame  but  yourself?  You  are  like  a  commercial 
traveler  whose  boy  came  into  the  house  crying  and  said: 
'Mamma,  that  man  struck  me.'  'What  man?'  said  the 
mother.  '  That  man  that  comes  here  Sundays.'  '  Oh,  your 
father?'  'Yes.'  He  called  his  own  father  'that  man.'  I 
would,  if  1  were  you,  let  the  mayor's  office  go  and  try  to  save 
the  boys." 

There  are  a  good  many  families  like  that,  and  the  parents 
wonder  why  their  boys  go  astray.  My  friends,  if  we  would 
just  make  home  beautiful,  and  make  it  attractive,  and  give  up 
some  nights  in  the  week  to  it,  we  might  save  our  children. 

I  believe  in  amusements,  anything  that  is  healthy;  anything 
that  is  not  going  to  harm  them  when  they  go  out  into  the 
world.  Make  home  the  pleasantest  place  under  the  sun,  and 
I  don't  believe  that  our  children  will  leave  us;  I  believe  we 
are  going  to  have  them  with  us  in  glory.  Talk  about  the 
"heathen  Chinee!"  The  sons  treat  the  fathers  and  mothers 
in  China  a  thousand  times  better  than  the  sons  treat  their 
parents  in  America  to-day.  Let  a  boy  there  treat  his  mother 
as  boys  in  America  treat  their  mothers  and  they  would  drive 
him  out  of  town.  They  would  say  that  any  town  that  harbors 
such  a  monster  as  that  ought  to  be  swept  out  of  existence. 

I  tell  you  a  disciple  in  the  world  is  one  thing,  but  the  world 
in  a  disciple  is  quite  a  dififerent  thing.  It  is  all  right  to  have 
the  ship  in  the  water,  but  when  the  water  gets  into  the  ship  you 
want  to  get  out,  don't  you?  I  was  very  comfortable  on  my 
voyage  home  to  my  family  on  board  the  steamer  Spree*  while 


*  Incident  related  on  page  339. 


THE    PATH    THROUGH    THE    SNOW  595 

the  water  was  outside  the  boat;  but  when  a  hole  was  made  in 
the  bottom  and  the  ship  began  to  sink,  so  that  we  were  afraid 
it  was  going  down,  we  wanted  to  get  off.  That  is  what  is  the 
matter  with  Christians;  they  get  water-logged  and  have  to  be 
towed.  We  waited  forty-eight  hours  before  we  saw  a  steamer 
coming  to  tow  us  into  Boston,  and  when  it  started  to  take  us 
into  port  there  was  a  joyful  time,  although  we  had  to  be  towed 
in.  There  are  lots  of  Christians  that  have  to  be  towed  in,  and 
the  ministers  have  all  they  can  do  to  keep  them  from  sinking. 
Once  I  walked  across  a  field  after  a  fresh  fall  of  snow.  I 
tried  to  see  how  straight  a  line  I  could  make  with  my  foot- 
prints in  the  snow.  When  I  looked  around  to  see  how  straight 
a  path  I  was  making  I  always  walked  crooked;  but  if  I  kept 
my  eyes  on  the  mark  ahead  of  me  and  did  not  take  them  ofif  I 
could  walk  straight  enough.  So  if  Christians  would  only  keep 
their  eyes  on  the  mark  —  on  Christ  Jesus,  and  follow  His  foot- 
steps, not  turning  around  to  see  what  kind  of  a  path  they  have 
made  —  they  would  walk  straighter.  He  is  our  model.  In- 
stead of  asking,  Why  can't  I  dance?  why  can't  I  go  to  the 
theater?  why  can't  I  do  this  or  that?  put  it  in  this  way: 
What  is  the  use  of  it?  Will  it  make  me  a  better  Christian? 
If  it  won't,  then  I  won't  do  it.  Instead  of  asking,  "  What  is  the 
use?  "  and  "  Why  can't  I?  "  ask  if  it  will  be  for  the  honor  and- 
glory  of  Jesus,  and  if  it  will  not,  say  "  I  will  not  do  it." 


CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

AN   APPEAL  TO   PARENTS. 

A  Theory  that  Proved  to  be  All  Wrong —  "  Mother  Is  Not  In"  — 
Social  Lies- — Formation  of  Character  —  From  the  Sunday-school 
to  Beer  Gardens  —  Reaping  the  Consequences  —  "  How  Did  You 
Come  Here?"  — Mr  Moody's  Secret  —  In  Prison  Under  an 
Assumed  Name  —  Moving  in  the  "  Highest  Circies  "  —  A  Broken- 
hearted Mother  —  "  Cut  It  Finer  "  —  Looking  Upon  Sunday  with 
Dread  —  "Natural  Goodness"  —  The  Lighthouse  Keeper  Watch- 
ing for  the  Return  of  His  Sailor  Son  —  A  Grief-stricken  Father  — 
Removing  His  Mother's  Body  — A  Remarkable  Story  —  "Have 
You  Seen  My  Boy?"  —  Story  of  the  Little  Wooden  Cross  —  A 
Mother's  Letter  to  Mr.  Moody  —  People  Who  Strap  Their 
Burdens  Tighter  on  Their  Backs. 

I  USED  to  think  when  I  was  a  Sunday-school  superintendent, 
laboring  among  the  children,  and  trying-  to  get  parents  in- 
terested in  the  work,  that  if  I  ever  became  a  preacher  I 
would  have  but  one  text  and  one  sermon,  and  they  shotild  be 
addressed  to  parents ;  because  when  we  get  them  interested 
their  interest  will  be  apparent  in  their  children.  We  used  to 
say,  if  we  get  the  lambs  in  the  old  sheep  will  follow,  but  I  didn't 
find  that  to  be  the  case.  Although  we  got  the  children  inter- 
ested on  Sunday,  the  parents  would  sometimes  pull  the  other 
way  all  the  week,  and  before  Sunday  came  again  the  impression 
that  had  been  made  would  be  gone. 

The  Bible  precept,  "  teach  them  diligently,"  is  very  plain, 
and  if  we  want  our  children  to  grow  up  a  lilessing  to  the  church 
of  God  and  to  the  world  we  must  teach  them.  I  can  imagine 
some  one  saying:  "  It  is  all  very  well  for  Moody  to  lay  down 
theories,  but  there  are  a  great  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
carrying  them  out."     I  once  heard  of  a  minister  who  had  a 

(596) 


TEACHING    UXTRUTHFULXKSS. 


597 


grand  tlicor}-  upon  the  brini^ing-  up  of  cliiUlrcn  ;  but  after  God 
had  given  him  seven  children  he  found  that  his  theory  was  all 
wrong.  They  all  were  differently  constituted.  I  will  admit 
that  this  is  one  diflficulty ;  but  if  our  heart  is  set  upon  having 
our  children  in  glory,  God  will  give  us  all  the  light  we  need. 
He  is  not  going  to  leave  us  in  darkness.  If  that  is  not  the 
aim  of  your  heart,  make  it  so.  I  would  rather  leave  my  chil- 
dren in  the  hope  of  Ghrist  than  leave  them  millions  of  money. 

Never  teach  them  revenge.  If  a  bal)y  falls  down  on  the 
floor,  don't  give  it  something  with  which  to  strike  the  floor. 
They  have  enough  of  revenge  in  them  without  being  taught 
any  more.  Don't  teach  them  to  lie.  How  many  a  mother 
has  told  a  child  to  go  to  the  door,  when  she  did  not  want  to  see 
the  visitor,  and  say,  "  Mother  is  not  in."  That  is  a  lie.  Chil- 
dren are  keen  to  detect.  They  very  soon  see  those  lies,  and  this 
lays  the  foundation  for  a  good  deal  of  trouble  afterward. 

"  Ah,"  some  may  say,  "  I  never  do  that."  Well,  suppose  a 
person  comes  in  whom  you  don't  want  to  see.  You  give  him 
a  welcome,  and  when  he  is  ready  to  go  you  entreat  him  to 
stay  ;  but  the  moment  he  is  out  of  the  door  you  say,  "  What  a 
bore  !  "  The  children  wonder  at  first,  but  they  very  soon  begin 
to  imitate  their  parents.  Parents  never  ought  to  do  a  thing 
they  don't  want  their  children  to  do.  If  you  don't  want  them 
to  smoke,  don't  you  smoke  ;  if  you  don't  \\ant  them  to  chew, 
don't  you  chew;  if  you  don't  want  them  to  drink,  don't  vou 
drink. 

A  lady  told  me  that  once  when  she  was  in  her  pantry  the 
doorbell  rang,  and  as  she  whirled  round  to  go  to  the  door  she 
broke  a  tumbler.  Her  little  girl  was  standing  beside  her,  and 
she  thought  her  motlier  was  doing  a  very  correct  thing;  and 
the  moment  the  mother  left  the  pantry,  the  child  began  to  break 
all  the  tumblers  she  could  get  hold  of.  You  may  laugh,  but 
children  are  very  good  imitators.  If  you  don't  want  them  to 
break  the  Sabl)ath  day,  keep  it  holy  yourself;  if  you  want  them 
to  go  to  church,  go  to  church  yourself.  It  is  very  often  from 
imitation  that  thev  utter  their  first  oath,  or  tell  their  first  lie. 


598 


WHERE    ARE    THE    CHILDREN? 


and  tlien  the  habit  grows  upon  them ;  and  when  they  try  to 
break  the  habit,  it  has  grown  so  strong  that  they  cannot  do  it. 

"  Ah,"  some  say,  "  we  don't  beheve  in  children  being  con- 
verted. Let  them  grow  up  to  manhood  and  womanhood, 
and  it  will  be  time  enough  then  to  talk  of  converting  them." 
They  forget  that  in  the  meantime  their  characters  are  formed, 
and  when  they  have  arrived  at  manhood  and  womanhood  it  is 
often  too  late  to  alter  them. 

How  many  parents  know  where  their  sons  are  evenings  ? 
They  may  be  in  haunts  of  vice.  Where  does  your  son  spend 
his  evenings?  You  don't  care  enough  for  him  to  ascertain 
what  kind  of  company  he  keeps,  what  kind  of  books  he  reads; 
don't  care  if  he  is  reading  miserable,  trashy  novels,  and  getting 
false  ideas  of  Hfe.  You  don't  know  till  it  is  too  late.  While 
we  were  in  London,  an  army  officer  in  India  said  to  himself: 
"  Lord,  now  is  the  time  for  my  son  to  be  saved."  He  got  a 
furlough,  and  came  to  London.  God  was  not  going  to  let  him 
return  without  the  blessing.  How  many  fathers  are  interested 
enough  in  their  sons  to  do  as  he  did?  How  many  parents  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  salvation  of  their  children?  I  don't  know  of 
anything  that  discouraged  me  more  when  I  was  a  Sunday- 
school  superintendent  in  Chicago,  than  when,  after  begging 
parents  to  allow  their  children  to  come  to  Sunday-school  — 
and  how  few  of  them  came  —  those  parents,  whenever  spring 
arrived,  would  take  their  children  from  the  school  and  lead 
them  into  German  beer-gardens.  And  how  many  reaped  the 
consequences  ! 

I  remember  one  mother  who  heard  that  her  boy  was  im- 
pressed at  our  meetings.  She  said  her  son  was  a  good  enough 
boy,  and  he  didn't  need  to  be  converted.  I  pleaded  with  her, 
but  in  vain.  I  tried  my  influence  with  the  boy  ;  but  while  I  was 
pulling  one  way  the  mother  was  pulling  the  other.  Her  in- 
fluence prevailed.  Naturally,  it  would.  W^ell,  some  time  after 
1  visited  the  county  jail,  and  I  saw  him  a  prisoner  there. 

"  How  did  you  come  here?  "  I  asked ;  "  Does  your  mother 
know  where  you  are  ?  " 


MISTAKEN    MOTHERS. 


599 


"No,  please  don't  tell  her;  I  am  here  under  an  assumed 
name,  and  I  am  sentenced  for  four  years.  Do  not  let  my 
mother  know  of  this,"  he  pleaded ;  "  she  thinks  I  am  in  the 
army." 

I  used  to  call  on  that  mother,  afterwards,  but  I  had  promised 
her  boy  that  I  would  not  tell  her  where  he  was,  and  for  four 
years  she  mourned  him  as  dead.  She  thought  he  had  died 
on  the  battlefield,  or  in  a  Southern  hospital.  What  a  bless- 
ing he  might  have  been  to  his  mother,  if  she  had  only  helped 
us  to  bring  him  to  Christ. 

In  the  Indiana  Penitentiary  I  was  told  of  a  man  who  was  im- 
prisoned there  under  an  assumed  name.  His  mother  heard 
where  he  was.  She  was  too  poor  to  ride,  so  she  walked  the 
whole  distance.  She  did  not  at  first  recognize  her  son  in  his 
prison  suit  and  short  hair,  but  when  she  did  she  threw  her  arms 
around  him  and  said :  "  I  am  to  blame  for  this ;  if  I  had  only 
taught  you  to  obey  God  and  keep  the  Sabbath  you  would  not 
be  here."  How  many  mothers,  if  they  were  honest,  could  trace 
the  ruin  of  their  children  to  early  training. 

Once  while  I  was  attending  a  meeting  in  a  certain  city,  a 
lady  came  to  me  and  said :  "  I  want  you  to  go  home  with  me ; 
I  have  something  to  say  to  you."  When  we  reached  her  home, 
some  friends  were  there.  After  they  had  retired,  tears  came 
into  her  eyes,  but  with  an  effort  she  repressed  her  emotion,  and 
said  that  she  was  going  to  tell  me  some  things  she  had  never 
told  to  any  one.  I  would  not  relate  this  incident  now,  but  she 
has  gone  to  another  world.  She  said  she  had  a  son  in  Chicago, 
and  she  w^as  very  anxious  about  him.  When  he  was  young  he 
became  interested  in  religion  at  the  rooms  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  He  used  to  go  out  in  the  streets  and 
circulate  tracts.  He  was  her  only  son,  and  she  was  very 
ambitious  that  he  should  make  a  name  in  the  world,  and  get 
into  the  "  highest  circles."  Oh,  what  a  mistake  people  make 
about  these  highest  circles !  She  was  deceived,  like  a  good 
many  more  votaries  of  fashion  and  hunters  after  w'ealth,  at 
the  present  time.     She  thought  it  was  beneath  her  son  to 


6oO  HEART-BROKEN    PARENTS. 

associate  with  young  men  who  hadn't  much  money.  She  tried 
to  get  him.  away  from  them,  but  they  had  more  influence 
than  she,  and,  finally,  to  break  up  his  associations  with 
these  worthy  young  men,  she  packed  him  off  to  a  boarding- 
school.  He  soon  entered  college,  and  the  next  thing  she  heard 
was  that  he  had  gone  astray.  She  often  wrote  letters  urging 
him  to  come  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  but  she  heard  that  he 
tore  them  up  without  reading  them.  She  went  to  him  and 
tried  to  regain  the  influence  she  once  possessed  over  him,  but 
her  efforts  were  useless,  and  she  returned  home  with  a  broken 
heart.  He  left  college,  and  for  two  years  nothing  was  heard 
of  him. 

At  last  they  learned  that  he  was  in  Chicago,  and  his  father 
found  him  and  gave  him  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  start  in 
business.  They  thought  this  would  change  him,  but  it  didn't. 
They  asked  me  to  use  my  influence  with  him.  I  asked  a  friend 
to  invite  him  to  his  house  one  night,  where  I  intended  to  meet 
him  ;  he  heard  I  was  to  be  there  and  he  did  not  come.  I  tried 
many  times  to  reach  him,  but  failed.  Some  time  after,  while 
traveling  in  New  England,  I  saw  a  dispatch  in  a  New  York 
paper,  stating  that  he  had  been  drowned  in  Lake  Michigan. 
His  father  went  on  to  find  the  body,  and  he  took  it  home  to 
a  broken-hearted  mother.  She  said,  "  If  I  thought  he  were  in 
Heaven  I  should  have  peace."  Her  disobedience  of  God's  law 
came  back  upon  her.  So,  parents,  if  you  have  a  son  impressed 
with  the  gospel,  help  him  to  come  to  Christ. 

We  should  take  our  children  to  church  with  us.  Even  if 
the  sermon  does  not  touch  them  they  are  getting  into  good 
habits.  If  the  minister  says  a  weak  thing  don't  speak  of  it 
before  the  children,  because  you  are  bringing  your  minister 
into  disrespect  with  them.  Encourage  them  to  bring  the  text 
home ;  let  the  Word  be  spoken  to  them  at,all  times,  in  season 
and  out  of  season.  If  Bible  truths  sink  down  into  their  hearts 
the  fruit  will  be  precious,  and  they  will  become  useful  in  the 
church  and  in  the  world.  Let  them  hear  the  word  of  God, 
and  if  they  do  not  understand  it  explain  it  to  them.     You  know 


DREADIXC.    SUN'DAY.  6oi 

the  meat  the}-  recjuire  is  the  same  that  we  feed  on  ;  Init  if  the 
pieces  are  too  large  we  must  cut  them  up  for  them  —  cut  them 
finer.  If  the  sermon  is  a  hard  one,  cut  it  into  thin  sHces  so  that 
they  can  take  it. 

Years  ago,  when  vav  eldest  son  was  a  little  boy,  he  did  not 
like  to  go  to  church,  and  he  would  get  up  in  the  morning  and 
say  to  his  mother,  "  What  da\'  is  to-morrow?  "  "  Tuesday." 
"  Next  day  ?  "  "  Wednesday."  "  Next  day  ?  "  "  Thursday ;  " 
and  so  on,  till  he  came  to  the  answer,  "  Sunday."  "  Dear  me," 
lie  would  moan.  I  said  to  his  mother,  "  We  cannot  have  our 
boy  grow  up  to  hate  Sunday  in  that  way ;  that  will  never  do." 
That  is  the  way  I  used  to  feel  when  I  was  a  boy.  I  used  to  look 
upon  Sunday  with  a  kind  of  dread.  \'ery  few  kind  words  were 
associated  with  that  day.  I  don't  know  that  the  minister  ever 
said  a  kind  thing  to  me,  or  even  once  put  his  hand  on  my  head. 
I  don't  know  that  he  ever  noticed  me,  unless  it  was  wdien  I  was 
asleep  in  the  gallery,  and  he  woke  me  up.  That  kind  of  thing 
won't  do;  we  must  make  Sunday  the  most  attractive  day  of 
the  week  ;  not  a  day  to  be  dreaded,  but  a  day  of  happiness. 
Well,  the  mother  took  the  work  up  with  this  boy.  She  read 
Bible  stories,  and  put  those  blessed  truths  in  a  way  that  he 
could  comprehend,  and  soon  the  feeling  of  dread  for  Sunday 
passed  away.  "What  day's  to-morrow?"  he  would  ask. 
"  Sunday."     "  I  am  glad." 

If  we  make  Bible  truths  interesting  —  break  them  up  in 
some  shape  so  that  children  can  get  at  them,  they  will  begin  to 
enjoy  them.  There's  no  influence  like  a  mother's,  and  if  the 
mothers  will  give  a  little  time  to  the  children  in  this  way,  and 
read  Bible  stories  to  them,  or  tell  tlicm  in  a  simple  way,  it  will 
not  be  long  before  the  child  knows  the  Bible  from  beginning 
to  end. 

Children  are  not  born  good.  Men  may  talk  of  natural 
goodness,  but  I  don't  find  it.  Goodness  must  corne  down  from 
the  Father  of  Light.  To  have  a  good  nature  a  man  must  be 
born  of  God.  There  is  another  reason  —  a  father  may  be  a 
very  good  man,  but  the  mother  may  be  pulling  in  another 


602  AMBITIOUS    PARENTS. 

direction.  She  may  want  her  children  to  occupy  a  high 
worldly  position.  She  may  have  great  ambition  in  that  di- 
rection, and  train  her  child  for  the  world.  Again,  it  may  be 
the  reverse  —  a  holy,  pious  mother  and  a  worldly  father.  It 
is  pretty  hard  for  the  children  when  the  father  and  mother  do 
not  pull  together. 

Another  reason  is,  a  great  many  people  have  very  little 
sense  about  bringing  up  children.  I've  known  mothers  to 
punish  their  children  by  making  them  read  the  Bible.  Do  not 
be  guilty  of  such  a  thing.  If  you  want  children  to  love  the 
Bible  do  not  punish  them  by  making  them  read  it.  It  is  the 
most  attractive  book  in  the  world.  But  that  is  the  way  to  spoil 
its  attractiveness,  and  make  them  hate  it  with  perfect  hatred. 

There  is  another  reason.  A  great  many  people  are  en- 
gaged in  looking  after  other  people's  children  to  the  neglect 
of  their  own.  No  father  or  mother  has  a  right  to  do  this,  what- 
ever position  they  hold  in  the  world.  The  father  may  be  a 
great  statesman  or  a  great  business  man,  but  he  is  responsible 
for  his  children. 

Some  time  ago  I  read  of  a  vessel  that  had  been  ofif  on  a 
whaling  voyage  about  three  years.  The  father  of  one  of  the 
sailors  had  charge  of  the  lighthouse,  and  he  was  expecting 
his  boy  to  come  home,  for  it  was  time  for  the  vessel  to  return. 
One  night  a  terrible  gale  arose,  and  the  father  fell  asleep ;  and 
while  he  slept  his  light  went  out.  When  morning  came  he 
realized  what  he  had  done,  and  he  was  afraid  that  some  vessel 
might  have  been  wrecked,  and  that  lives  might  have  been  lost. 
His  fears  were  well  founded,  for  there  had  been  a  terrible 
wreck.  He  walked  along  the  beach,  hoping  to  save  some  one 
who  might  still  be  alive.  The  first  body  that  came  floating 
toward  the  shore  was  the  body  of  his  own  son !  He  had  been 
watching  for  that  boy  for  many  days,  and  he  had  been  gone 
for  three  years.  He  had  perished  in  sight  of  home  because  his 
father  had  let  his  light  go  out!  What  a  warning  to  fathers 
and  mothers  to-day ! 

I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  idea  that  our  children  must 


THE    LITTLE    ONES    MAY    COME.  605 

grow  up  before  they  are  converted.  Once  I  saw  a  lady  with 
three  young  daughters  at  her  side,  and  I  asked  the  mother  if 
she  was  a  Christian.  "  Yes,  sir."  Then  I  asked  the  oldest 
daughter  if  she  was  a  Christian.  Ilcr  chin  quivered  and  the 
tears  came  into  her  eyes,  and  she  said,  "  I  wish  I  was."  And 
the  mother  looked  angrily  at  me  and  said,  "  I  don't  want  you 
to  speak  to  my  children  on  that  subject.  They  don't  under- 
stand." And  in  great  rage  she  took  them  all  away  from  me. 
One  daughter  was  fourteen  years  old,  one  twelve,  and  the  other 
ten,  but  they  weren't  old  enough  to  be  talked  to  about  religion  ! 
Let  them  drift  into  the  world  and  plunge  into  worldly  amuse- 
ments, and  then  see  how  hard  it  is  to  reach  them. 

Many  a  mother  is  mourning  to-day  because  her  boy  has 
gone  beyond  her  reach  and  will  not  allow  her  to  pray  with  him. 
She  may  pray  for  him,  but  he  will  not  let  her  pray  with  him. 
When  his  mind  was  young  and  tender  she  might  have  led  him 
to  Christ.  Bring  them  in.  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come 
unto  Me."  Are  you  a  prayerless  father?  May  God  let  the 
arrow  go  down  into  your  soul !  Make  up  your  mind  that,  God 
helping  you,  you  are  going  to  get  the  children  in. 

A  mother  once  came  to  me  and  said,  "  Mr.  Moody,  I  want 
you  to  pray  for  me."  "  Well,"  I  asked,  "  why  do  you  want  to 
be  prayed  for?"  She  said,  "I  have  three  sons,  and  they 
have  all  gone  astray,  and  I  am  the  most  wretched  woman 
living.  I  feel  that  I  am  to  blame.  I  feel  that  I  haven't  been 
true  to  the  charge  God  gave  me,  and  the  thought  is  killing  me. 
I  want  you  to  pray  for  me,  and  if  God  will  forgive  me,  and  if  I 
get  right  in  His  sight,  with  His  grace  and  by  my  prayers  and 
faith  they  may  yet  be  brought  back."  Are  there  not  hundreds 
in  the  same  condition  as  this  poor  woman?  You  are  ambitious 
for  your  children ;  you  desire  great  things  for  them  ;  but  be 
careful  that  you  do  not  lead  them  into  Sodom,  where  ruin  will 
come  upon  them,  and  darkness  and  misery  cover  them. 

Let  me  say  a  word  to  you,  mothers.  We  depend  a  good 
deal  upon  you.  I  remember  in  Philadelphia  we  wanted  to 
obtain  certain  results,  and  we  called  a  meeting  of  mothers. 


6o6  POWER    OP'    A    MOTHERS    PRAYERS. 

From  five  to  eight  thousand  mothers  were  present,  and  each 
of  them  had  a  particular  burden  upon  her  heart.  There  was 
a  mother  who  had  a  wayward  daughter,  another  a  reckless  son, 
another  a  bad  husband.  They  prayed  for  aid  from  the  Lord, 
and  that  grace  might  be  shown  to  these  sons  and  daughters 
and  husbands,  and  the  result  was  that  our  inquiry-rooms  were 
soon  filled  with  anxious  and  earnest  inquirers. 

A  wayward  boy  in  London,  whose  mother  was  very  anxious 
for  his  salvation,  said  to  her,  "  I  am  not  going  to  be  bothered 
with  your  prayers  any  longer ;  I  will  go  to  America  and  be  rid 
of  them."  "  But,  my  boy,"  she  said,  "  God  is  on  the  sea,  and 
in  America,  and  He  hears  my  prayers  for  you."  Well,  he 
came  to  this  country,  and  when  he  arrived  in  New  York  some 
of  the  sailors  told  him  that  Moody  and  Sankey  were  holding 
meetings  in  the  city.  The  moment  he  landed  he  started  for 
our  place  of  meeting,  and  there  he  found  Christ.  He  became 
a  most  earnest  worker,  and  he  wrote  to  his  mother  and  told 
her  that  her  prayers  had  been  answered,  and  that  he  had  found 
his  mother's  God. 

The  impression  that  a  praying  mother  leaves  upon  her 
children  is  life-long.  Perhaps  when  you  are  dead  and  gone 
your  prayer  will  be  answered.  Only  the  other  day  I  read  of 
a  mother  who  had  died  and  left  her  child  alone  and  very  poor. 
She  used  to  pray  earnestly  for  her  boy,  and  she  left  an  im- 
pression upon  him  that  she  cared  more  for  his  soul  than  for 
anything  else  in  the  world.  He  grew  up  to  be  a  successful 
man  in  business,  and  became  very  well  ofif.  Twenty  years  after 
his  mother  died  he  thought  he  would  remove  her  remains  into 
his  own  lot  in  the  cemetery,  and  erect  a  monument  to  her 
memory.  As  he  removed  the  remains  and  was  about  to  lay 
them  away  in  their  final  resting-place,  the  thought  came  to 
him  that  while  she  was  alive  she  had  often  prayed  for  him ;  and 
he  wondered  why  her  prayers  were  not  answered.  That  very 
night  he  was  saved.  The  act  of  removing  his  mother's  body  to 
another  resting-place  revived  all  the  recollections  of  his  child- 
hood, and  he  became  a  Christian, 


SEARCHING    FOR    HIS    SON.  607 

If  you  have  a  boy  who  is  a  drunkard,  ask  yourself,  "  Have  I 
done  all  that  I  can  for  him  ;  have  I  set  before  him  the  truth  of 
Christ  ?  "  Not  long  ago  a  young  man  got  in  the  habit  of 
going  home  very  late,  and  his  father  began  to  mistrust  that  he 
had  gone  astray.  One  night  he  told  his  wife  to  go  to  bed,  and 
he  would  sit  up  till  his  son  came  home.  The  boy  came  home 
drunk,  and  the  father  in  his  anger  pushed  him  into  the  street 
and  told  him  never  to  enter  his  house  again.  The  father  went 
into  the  house,  shut  the  door,  sat  down,  and  began  to  think  : 
"  Well,  I  may  be  to  blame  for  that  boy's  conduct,  after  all.  I 
have  never  prayed  with  him  ;  I  have  never  warned  him  of  the 
dangers  of  the  world."  He  put  on  his  oveicoat  and  hat,  and 
started  out  to  find  him.    The  first  policeman  he  met  he  asked  : 

"  Have  you  seen  my  son  ?  " 

"  Xo."     On  he  went  till  he  met  another. 

"  Have  you  seen  anything  of  my  son?  " 

"  No." 

He  searched  all  that  night,  but  not  until  the  morning  did  he 
find  him.  He  took  him  by  the  arm  and  gently  led  him  Iiome. 
When  the  son  was  sober  the  father  said  : 

"  ]\Iy  dear  boy,  T  want  you  to  forgive  me  ;  I've  never  prayed 
for  you  ;  I've  never  lifted  my  heart  to  God  for  you  ;  I've  been  the 
means  of  leading  you  astray,  and  I  want  your  forgiveness." 

The  son  was  touched,  and  what  w^as  the  result  ?  Within 
twenty-four  hours  he  became  a  convert,  and  gave  up  the  cup. 

While  attending  a  convention  in  Illinois  a  man  past 
seventy  years  old  arose.  He  said  he  remembered  only  one 
thing  about  his  father,  but  that  one  thing  had  followed  him  all 
through  life.  He  could  not  remember  his  death,  he  had  no 
recollection  of  his  funeral,  Ijut  he  remembered  how  one  winter 
night  his  father  took  a  chip  and  with  his  pocket-knife  whittled 
out  a  cross,  and  with  tears  in  his  eyes  held  it  up  and  told  how 
God  in  His  infinite  love  had  sent  His  Son  down  here  to  redeem 
us,  and  how  He  had  died  on  the  cross  for  us.  That  story  of  the 
cross  had  followed  him  through  life.  I  tell  you  if  you  teach 
children  truths  thev  will  cling  to  them  all  throucrh  life. 


5o8  ^  CHILD'S    VERSION. 

A  little  child  of  eight  was  going  to  recite  at  a  Sunday-school 
concert.  When  the  time  came  the  little  girl  trembled  so  she 
could  hardly  speak.  She  began,  "  Jesus  said,"  and  com- 
pletely broke  down.  Again  she  tried,  "  Jesus  said,  suffer," 
but  she  stopped  again.  A  third  attempt  was  made,  and  she 
said,  "  Suffer  little  children  —  to  come  to  Me,  —  and  don't 
anybody  stop  them,  for  He  zvaiits  tliciii  all  to  come."  And  that 
is  the  truth. 

When  we  were  preaching  in  Dundee,  Scotland,  a  mother 
came  to  me  with  her  two  sons,  sixteen  and  seventeen  years  old. 
She  said,  "  Will  you  talk  to  my  boys?  "  Next  night  she  asked 
me  again,  and  the  following  night  she  repeated  her  request. 
Five  hundred  miles  she  had  journeyed  to  get  God's  blessing 
for  her  boys.  She  followed  us  to  London,  and  the  first  night 
I  was  there,  I  saw  her  in  our  meeting.  She  was  accompanied 
by  only  one  of  her  boys  —  the  other  had  died.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  meetings  I  received  this  letter  from  her : 

"  Dear  Mr.  Moody:  For  months  I  have  never  considered  the  day's 
work  ended  unless  you  and  your  work  had  been  specially  prayed  for. 
Now  it  appears  before  us  more  and  more.  What  in  our  little  measure 
we  have  found  has  no  doubt  been  the  happy  experience  of  many  others 
in  London.  INIy  husband  and  I  have  sought  as  our  greatest  privilege 
to  take  unconverted  friends  one  by  one  to  Agricultural  Hall,  and  I 
thank  God  that,  with  a  single  exception,  those  brought  under  the 
preaching  from  your  lips  have  accepted  Christ  as  their  Saviour,  and  are 
rejoicing  in  His  love." 

She  was  a  lady  of  wealth  and  position.  She  lived  a  little 
way  out  of  London ;  gave  up  her  beautiful  home  and  took 
lodgings  near  Agricultural  Hall,  so  as  to  be  useful  in  the 
inquiry-room.  When  we  went  down  to  the  Opera  House  she 
was  there ;  when  we  went  down  to  the  East  End  there  she  was 
again ;  and  when  I  left  London  she  had  the  names  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  who  had  accepted  Christ  from  her. 

A  minister  of  my  acquaintance  received  a  letter  from  Scot- 
land and  he  forwarded  it  to  me.  It  was  the  earnest  plea  of  a 
loving  father.  He  asked  us  to  look  out  for  his  son,  whose 
name  was  Willie.    That  name  touched  my  heart,  because  it  was 


CHRIST    WILL    H1:AR    TIIK    nURDKN.  6c9 

the  name  i)f  inv  own  son.  I  asked  people  to  help  us  to  get  on 
the  track  of  that  boy,  but  all  our  efforts  were  fruitless.  Rut 
in  far-off  Scotland  that  Christian  father  was  holding  his  boy 
no  to  God  in  prayer,  and  one  night  among  those  who  stood  up 
and  asked  for  praver  was  Willie.  He  told  mc  a  story  that 
thrilled  my  heart,  and  testified  that  the  prayers  of  his  father  and 
mother  in  their  far-off  home  had  been  instrumental  in  effecting 
his  salvation.  Do  you  not  thiidc  that  the  hearts  of  those 
parents  rejoiced?  He  said  he  was  rushing  to  destruction,  but 
there  was  a  power  in  those  prayers  that  saved  him. 

A  mother  once  came  to  me  and  said  : 

"  It  is  easy  enough  for  you  to  si)eak  in  that  way  ;  but  if  you 
had  the  burden  I've  got,  you  couldn't  cast  it  on  the  Lord." 

"  Why,  is  your  burden  so  great  that  Christ  can't  carry  it?  " 

"  No.  it  isn't  too  great  for  Him  to  carry ;  but  I  can't  put  it 
on    Him." 

"  That  is  your  fault,"  I  replied. 

I  find  a  great  many  people  with  burdens  who,  rather  than 
just  come  to  Him  with  them,  stra]:)  tlicm  tighter  on  their  backs 
and  go  away  staggering  under  the  load.  I  asked  her  the 
nature  of  her  trouble,  and  she  said  : 

"  I  have  an  only  son  who  is  a  wanderer.  I  don't  know 
where  he  is.  If  T  only  knew  where  he  was  I  would  go  round 
the  world  to  find  him.  You  don't  know  how  I  love  him.  This 
sorrow^  is  killing  me." 

"  Why  don't  you  take  him  to  Christ?  You  can  reach  him 
at  the  throne,  even  though  he  be  at  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
world.  Go  tell  God  all  about  your  trouble,  and  He  will  take  it 
awav;  and  not  only  that,  but  if  you  never  see  him  on  earth, 
God  can  give  you  faith  that  you  will  see  your  boy  in  Heaven." 

If  vou  have  a  burden  like  this,  fathers,  mothers,  bring 
it  to  Him  and  cast  it  on  Him.  and  He,  the  great  i)hysician.  will 
heal  your  broken  hearts. 


37 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

HOW  TO  CONDUCT  MEETINGS  — TO  YOUNG  CONVERTS. 

Preaching  Everybody  Out  of  Doors  —  Killing  a  Meeting  —  "A  Pity 
to  Stop  While  There's  Anybody  Listening  "  —  Some  Astonished 
Elders  —  Asking  for  an  Explanation  —  Curiosity  Aroused  —  Long- 
winded  Ministers  —  Deacons  Who  Talk  Too  Long  —  What  an 
Old  Deacon  Said  —  Six  Years  Without  a  Welcome  —  "  Disturbing 
the  Impression"  —  Mr.  Moody's  Rejoinder — Harrowing  it  In  — 
What  to  do  With  People  Who  Sleep  in  Church  —  How  Mr. 
Moody  Slept  in  Dr.  Kirk's  Church  —  The  Result  —  A  Hot-Water 
Advocate  —  A  Convert's  Experience  Under  a  Railroad  Bridge  — 
"  Wait  Till  I  Get  My  Big  Brother  "  —  Story  of  An  Old  Colored 
Woman  —  Jumping  Through  a  Stone  Wall  —  "  Before  and  After  " 

—  Mr.  Moody  Invited  to  Attend  the  Opening  of  a  Billiard  Saloon 

—  The    LTplifted     Knife  —  The     Blind     Man     with    a     Lantern  — 
Reminiscences  of  Mr.  Moody's  Early  Career. 

REVIVALS HOW    TO    CONDL'CT    MEETINGS. 

IN  many  towns  where  we  held  union  meetings  we  changed 
ministers  every  night,  and  a  good  many  special  rehgious 
meetings  were  organized,  and  proved  perfect  faikires.  I 
received  a  great  inany  letters  telling  about  special  meetings, 
how  the  people  turned  out  well,  but  there  were  no  results. 
On  inquiry  I  found  they  had  a  Methodist  minister  one  night, 
a  Baptist  minister  another,  an  Episcopalian  minister  another, 
and  a  Congregational  minister  another,  in  order  to  keep  all 
denominations  in,  and  the  result  was  they  preached  everybody 
out  of  doors.  You  could  see  right  on  the  face  of  it  that  that 
would  be  the  result.  One  minister  got  the  people  interested, 
and  just  at  the  point  where  he  needed  to  continue  his  ministra- 
tions another  stepped  in  and  he  went  out.  And  so  there  was 
no  getting  hold  of  the  people. 

These  special  meetings  ought  to  be  short.  A  great  many 
meetings  are  killed  because  they  are  too  long.  The  minister's 
five  minutes  are  always  ten,  and  his  ten  minutes  are  always 

(6io) 


A    LONG    SERV.CE.  5j  j 

twenty,  and  the  result  is  the}'  sometimes  preach  everybody  into 
the  spirit  and  out  of  it  before  the  meeting  is  over.  When 
people  leave  they  are  glad  to  go  home,  and  they  ought  to  go 
home.  Send  them  a\va\'  liungry  and  they  will  come  back 
again.  There  was  a  man  in  London  who  preached  in  the  open 
air  until  everybody  left  him,  and  somebody  said  to  him  after- 
wards : 

"  \\'hy  did  }ou  preach  so  long?" 

"  Oh,"  said  he,  "  I  thought  it  would  be  a  pity  to  stop  wdiile 
there  was  anybody  listening." 

It  is  a  good  deal  better  to  cut  the  service  right  off  short, 
than  to  have  it  too  long,  then  people  will  come  again  to  hear. 

Then  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have  a  subject.  What  we  want  is 
variety.  Instead  of  having  Deacon  Jones  and  Deacon  Smith 
and  Deacon  Brown  do  all  the  praying  and  all  the  talking,  have 
somebody  else  say  something,  and  thus  create  and  maintain 
interest. 

A  young  minister  was  called  to  a  church  where  the  people 
seemed  to  have  fallen  asleep.  He  tried  to  rouse  them,  but  it 
was  of  no  use.  He  preached  and  preached,  and  tried  to  get 
them  interested,  and  to  attend  the  prayer-meetings,  but  he 
could  not.  One  Sunday  he  announced  :  "  This  week  we'll 
have  no  prayer-meeting."  They  wondered  what  it  meant;  the 
idea  that  this  young  minister  should  do  away  with  prayer- 
meetings  that  had  been  carried  on  there  for  fifty  years !  They 
w-ere  astonished.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  we  will  have  a  praise- 
meeting."  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  one  elder  said  to  an- 
other : 

"  What's  he  going  to  give  up  the  prayer-meeting  for?  Has 
he  consulted  you  about  it  ?  " 

"  No." 

"  Well,"  replied  the  former,  "  that's  a  very  serious  matter ; 
what  is  a  praise-meeting?  " 

They  had  never  had  a  praise-meeting,  and  they  didn't  know 
what  a  praise-meeting  was.  They  asked  tlie  minister,  and  he 
told  them  to  wait  until  Fridav  nierht  and  thev  would  see. 


5l2  THE    PRAISE-MEETING. 

The  people  began  to  talk  about  it,  and  a  great  many  came 
out  of  curiosity  to  see  what  a  praise-meeting  was.  The  young 
minister  began  by  reading  some  of  those  good  old  psalms. 
"  Now,"  said  he,  "  if  you  can  think  of  anything  in  your  past 
life  that  you  have  received  from  God,  praise  Him  for  it;  if  you 
can  think  of  any  benefits  you  have  received,  praise  God  for 
them."  They  began  to  think,  and  they  found  they  had  a  good 
many  things  to  praise  God  for.  One  man  arose  and  praised 
God  for  a  praying  mother  who  had  led  him  to  Christ.  An- 
other man  arose  and  praised  God  for  the  Bible.  Others  praised 
God  for  this  thing  and  that,  and  the  result  was  that  when  the 
meeting  was  over,  instead  of  getting  up  and  walking  silently 
out,  they  remained  and  shook  hands  with  one  another,  and 
said,  "  I  believe  w^e  are  going  to  have  a  revival."  Mv  friends, 
if  we  don't  thank  God  for  what  He  has  done  for  us,  and  are 
not  full  of  joy  and  gladness,  the  world  will  not  come  to  Christ. 

I  would  not  have  the  minister  always  take  the  lead,  for  I 
have  noticed  that  when  the  minister  always  leads  there  is  a  col- 
lapse when  he  is  absent.  It  seems  to  me  a  minister  should  call 
on  different  members  to  preside,  and  when  he  is  absent  the 
meetings  won't  miss  him,  and  there  will  be  no  falling  ofif.  Not 
only  that,  but  he  is  training  his  members  to  work.  How  many 
lawyers,  physicians,  and  public  speakers  we  have  who  do  noth- 
ing to  help  along  the  work.  I  believe  that  difificulty  could  be 
removed  if  the  minister  would  take  a  little  pains.  Have  once 
in  a  while  a  thanksgiving  meeting.  It  wakes  up  a  church 
wonderfully  to  let  the  young  converts  relate  their  experiences. 

You  say,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  these  men  who 
talk  so  long?  I  would  speak  to  them  privately,  and  tell  them 
they  must  try  to  make  their  talks  shorter.  It  is  a  good  thing 
sometimes  for  ministers  themselves  not  to  talk  too  long. 
Sometimes  they  read  a  good  deal  of  Scripture,  and  talk  until 
perhaps  only  fifteen  minutes  are  left,  and  then  they  complain 
because  Deacon  Smith  or  Deacon  Jones  or  some  one  else 
talked  too  long.  Just  let  the  minister  strike  the  keynote  of 
the  meeting,  and  if  he  can't  do  that  in  ten  minutes  he  can't  do 


RECOGNIZING    CHRISTIANS    HERE.  613 

it  at  all.  Very  often  a  minister  takes  up  a  chapter  and  ex- 
hausts it,  and  says  everything  he  can  think  of  about  it.  Can 
you  wonder  that  a  layman  cannot  say  more  who  has  given  no 
study  to  the  subject?  Give  out  the  subject  a  week  ahead,  let 
the  minister  take  five  or  ten  minutes  in  opening,  and  then  let 
others  take  part.  That  would  make  greater  variety.  When 
a  man  takes  part  he  becomes  greatly  interested  himself.  There 
w^as  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  what  the  old  deacon  said,  that 
when  he  took  part  in  the  meetings  they  were  very  interesting, 
and  when  he  didn't  they  seemed  very  dull. 

Xow,  a  stranger  coming  into  a  church  likes  to  have  some 
one  speak  to  him.  He  does  not  feel  insulted  at  all.  I  re- 
member two  young  men  who  came  into  our  inquiry-room  in 
New  York  one  night,  and  they  were  asked  : 

"Where  do  you  attend  church?"  They  gave  the  name 
of  the  church  they  had  steadily  attended,  and  one  of  them  said  : 

"  I  advise  you  to  go  and  see  the  minister  of  that  church." 

"Why?" 

"  Because  we  don't  want  to  go  there  any  more  ;  we  have 
attended  there  for  six  years  and  no  one  has  ever  spoken  to  us." 

A  man  was  preaching  about  Christians  recognizing  each 
other  in  heaven,  and  some  one  said,  "  I  wish  he  would  preach 
about  recognizing  each  other  on  earth." 

In  one  place  where  I  preached  I  looked  over  the  great 
audience  and  saw  men  earnestly  talking  to  others  here  and 
there.  I  said  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  who  got  up  the  meeting,  "  Who  are  these  men?  " 
He  said,  "  They  are  a  band  of  workers."  They  were  scattered 
through  the  hall,  preaching  and  watching  for  souls.  Out  of 
the  fifty  workers  then  in  the  hall  forty-one  were  talking  and 
praying  with  others. 

I  do  not  see  how  anyone  can  preach  without  having  inquiry- 
meetings.  I  like  to  see  the  converts.  One  minister  in  Scot- 
land told  me  he  did  not  believe  in  "  disturl^ing  the  impression." 
Tf  he  made  an  impression  he  didn't  want  any  one  to  say  any- 
thing.    Said  he,  "  After  you  sow  the  seed  you  don't  want  to 


6l4  ASLEEP    IN    CHURCH. 

dig  it  up  to  see  whether  it  has  sprouted."  "  But,"  I  repHed, 
"  the  farmers  harrow  the  seed  in  after  it  is  sown." 

If  a  man  goes  to  sleep  in  church  wake  him  up.  It  is  terribly 
annoying  to  a  preacher  to  have  a  man  sound  asleep  right  in 
front  of  him.  I  remember  I  used  to  go  up  in  the  gallery  when 
I  was  a  boy,  and  get  into  a  comfortable  place  and  go  to  sleep. 
When  I  went  to  the  Mount  Vernon  Church  in  Boston  I  used  to 
go  to  sleep  there.  One  day  when  I  was  in  the  gallery,  sound 
asleep,  a  young  student  —  from  Harvard  College,  I  think,  and 
I  shall  always  feel  very  grateful  to  him  —  I  wish  I  knew  his 
name  —  gave  me  a  punch  with  his  elbow  and  I  rubbed  my 
eyes  and  woke  up.  I  looked  at  the  minister,  and  lo  and  be- 
hold, I  thought  he  was  preaching  directly  at  me.  I  said  to  my- 
self, "Who  has  been  telling  Dr.  Kirk  about  me?"  I  woke 
up  just  at  the  right  time.  It  was  just  the  place  in  the  sermon 
that  hit  my  case.  The  perspiration  stood  out  all  over  me. 
I  never  felt  so  cheap  in  my  life.  It  did  me  a  great  deal  of  good 
to  wake  me  up.  So  when  you  see  a  man  asleep  near  you,  wake 
him  up. 

When  we  were  in  Glasgow  there  were  about  one  thousand 
men  converted  who  had  been  slaves  of  strong  drink,  and  the 
question  was,  how  to  hold  them  together.  They  organized,  and 
called  themselves  the  Mizpah  Band,  and  met  every  Saturday. 
That  is  the  day  of  peculiar  temptation  in  the  old  country,  for 
men  are  generally  paid  off  on  Saturday,  and  the  week's  wages 
often  go  for  whiskey.  These  men  knew  they  would  be  strongly 
tried  and  tempted  on  Saturday ;  so  they  agreed  to  meet  every 
Saturday  afternoon.  Then  the  cjuestion  came  up,  "  What  will 
bind  us  together?  "  They  decided  to  start  a  male  choir.  They 
began  with  a  choir  of  four  hundred ;  and  out  of  these  there 
were  not  more  than  a  dozen  who  could  sing.  If  you  could  have 
heard  them  you  wouldn't  have  thought  it  was  singing.  The 
noise  sounded  as  though  it  came  from  cracked  kettles  and  tin 
pans.  Their  voices  hadn't  been  worn  down.  But  these  choir 
meetings  kept  them  off  the  street  corners  and  out  of  the 
whiskey  shops.     They  went  on  practicing  and  improving,  and 


THE    POWER    OF    SONG. 


615 


six  months  later,  when  Mr.  Sankey  and  I  returned  to  Glasgow. 
I  never  heard  such  inspiring  singing.  They  kept  on  growing 
in  numbers  until  there  were  over  eleven  hundred  of  them. 
They  went  out  every  week  to  the  different  parts  of  Glasgow, 
some  to  preach  the  best  they  knew  how,  others  to  tell  what 
God  had  done  for  them,  and  others  to  sing;  and  thus  in  one 
way  or  another,  they  declared  the  Gospel. 

I  mention  this  to  bring  out  this  fact :  that  a  great  deal  of 
talent  in  all  our  churches  lies  buried.  Utilize  it.  I  think  a 
male  choir  is  a  good  thing.  Let  the  boys  get  together  and 
l)ractice.  and  then  use  them  in  the  churches.  I  think  there  is 
no  singing  that  will  take  hold  of  us  more  than  hymns  sung 
by  a  male  choir.  Don't  sing  in  an  unknown  tongue.  In  a 
great  many  churches  you  don't  know  for  the  life  of  you  what 
the  choir  is  singing  about.  I  have  been  in  churches  where, 
if  you  tried  to  follow  the  choir  in  your  hymn-book,  you 
couldn't  find  the  place.  They  might  as  well  have  sung  in 
Greek  or  Latin.  The  music  drowned  the  words.  What  we 
want  is  singing  that  will  bring  out  the  Gospel  in  such  a  way 
that  the  people  won't  forget  it.  Get  the  young  people  to  sing, 
and  in  that  way  you  will  create  fresh  interest.  I  believe  it  is 
easier  for  a  man  to  preach  after  good  live  singing.  I  have  been 
in  churches  where  the  choir  would  sing  something  in  an  un- 
known tongue,  and  then  I  would  be  too  upset  to  preach.  I 
would  have  the  programme  all  laid  out  before  me,  but  after 
such  singing  I  would  say  to  myself,  "  I  am  not  fit  to  preach." 
The  choir  put  me  all  out  of  sorts.  Then  I  would  give  out 
"  Rock  of  Ages."  or  some  hymn  that  everybody  could  sing; 
but  the  choir  would  find  music  to  smother  the  words.  What 
we  want  is  a  revolution  in  church  singing.  Get  words  and 
music  that  the  people  can  understand.  Have  solos,  duets, 
quartettes,  a  male  choir,  every  kind  of  a  choir  you  can  get  to- 
gether. It  is  always  a  sign  of  backsliding  when  people  don't 
sing.  You  never  have  a  revival  without  singing.  The 
nearer  a  man  gets  to  God  the  more  he  wants  to  sing.  I  can't 
sing  very  well  with  my  voice,  but  I  can  sing  in  my  heart. 


5i5  SUIT    THE    METHOD    TO    THE    NEED. 

To  be  successful  in  winning  souls  to  Christ  you  must  find 
out  people's  dififerences.  They  are  not  the  same  in  their 
spiritual  wants  any  more  than  in  their  temporal  wants.  What 
is  good  for  one  is  rank  poison  for  another.  You  can't  treat 
all  alike.  I  have  a  friend  who,  when  he  is  sick,  always  drinks 
a  lot  of  hot  water  and  goes  to  bed.  It  don't  make  any  differ- 
ence what's  the  matter  with  him,  he  has  only  one  single  remedy. 
So  a  man  may  have  just  one  verse  of  Scripture.  He's  always 
quoting  it.  It  fits  his  case,  and  he  thinks  it  does  everybody 
else's.  A  man  I  knew  up  in  Wisconsin  was  converted  under 
a  railway  bridge,  and  to  this  day  he  keeps  urging  people  to  go 
right  down  under  that  bridge  if  they  want  to  get  converted  sure. 

No  two  thoughts  are  just  alike,  no  two  needs  are  just  alike, 
no  two  sinners  are  going  to  come  to  Christ  in  precisely  the 
same  way.  Instead  of  looking  for  others'  experiences,  look 
for  one  for  yourself. 

TO    YOUNG    CONVERTS. 

There  are  a  great  many  lukewarm  Christians  who  really 
believe  in  their  hearts  that  young  converts  won't  stand  long. 
Some  people  will  give  them  six  weeks,  and  some  six  months, 
and  then  all  will  be  over.  That  has  been  the  cry  ever  since  I 
can  remember.  I  suppose  we  shall  hear  it  to  the  end  of  time. 
Well,  there  are  some  who  do  not  hold  out,  but  think  of  the 
thousands  and  thousands  that  do.  "  God  is  able  to  make  him 
stand  ;  "  and  if  young  converts,  in  the  morning  of  their  Chris- 
tian experience,  learn  this  one  lesson,  it  will  save  them  from 
many  a  painful  hour. 

It  is  said  that  "  short  accounts  make  long  friends."  Keep 
short  accounts  with  God.  You  should  see  the  face  of  God 
every  morning  before  you  see  the  face  of  any  human  being.  If 
you  come  to  the  cross  every  morning,  you  will  never  get  but 
one  day's  journey  from  the  cross.  Just  keep  close  to  the  cross 
and  close  to  Him,  and  if  anything  has  gone  wrong  during  the 
day  or  evening,  do  not  sleep  until  that  account  has  been  settled. 
Take  your  trouble  to  Christ  and  tell  it  right  out  to  Him  ;  tell 


KEEPING    SHORT    ACCOUNTS. 


617 


Him  you  are  sorry,  and  ask  Him  to  forgive  you.  He  delights 
to  forgive.  That  is  what  I  mean  by  keeping  a  short  account 
with  God.  You  know  when  you  continue  to  buy  a  httle  sugar 
at  a  grocery  store  every  few  days,  in  a  short  time  the  grocer  has 
a  bill  against  you  for  ten  or  twenty  pounds.  You  are  sur- 
prised, and  perhaps  say  you  never  had  so  much  sugar.  Then 
you  quarrel  with  the  grocer,  and  }ou  have  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  over  it.  Perhaps  if  you  kept  short  accounts  you  would 
remember  what  you  owed.  Keep  short  accounts  or  else  you 
won't  prosper. 

A  little  boy  was  going  home  from  school  one  day  and  met 
a  big  fellow  who  wanted  to  fight  with  him  He  said,  "  Well, 
wait  till  I  go  and  get  my  big  brother."  and  he  ran  ofif  after  his 
big  brother  and  away  ran  the  other  boy.  Tell  Satan  when  he 
threatens  to  convince  you  that  you  will  go  to  Christ  and  let 
Him  settle  it  for  you.  You  are  no  match  for  Satan.  He  is 
stronger  than  you  are ;  but  Satan  flies  when  you  bring  Christ. 
He  is  your  only  refuge. 

A  man  with  whom  I  was  acquainted  bought  out  a  certain 
store.  Everybody  predicted  that  he  would  fail.  Two  or  three 
men  had  failed  in  that  store,  with  more  capital  than  he  had. 
Well,  he  went  on  and  on,  and  did  not  fail,  and  every  one 
wondered  how  he  got  along  so  well.  By  and  by  it  leaked  out 
that  he  had  a  rich  brother  who  kept  furnishing  money,  and 
he  kept  close  to  him.  So  if  you  will  only  keep  close  to  Christ, 
He  has  all  the  treasures  of  Heaven  to  place  at  your  disposal ; 
He  will  keep  you.  There  is  no  danger  of  your  going  back  to 
the  world  if  you  keep  close  to  Him. 

There  are  some  things  I  used  to  like  to  do  before  I  was 
converted  that  I  don't  do  now;  but,  thank  God,  I  don't  want 
to  do  them.  God  has  turned  my  appetite  against  such  things. 
I  have  been  fed  upon  this  blessed  Bible  until  I  have  no  longer 
any  taste  for  a  good  deal  of  the  literature  I  used  to  like. 

Don't  go  to  church  just  to  criticize.  Any  one  can  do  that. 
If  you  feel  inclined  to  criticize,  just  stop  and  ask  yourself 
whether  you  could  conduct  the  services  any  better.     Some  men 


5i8  PRINCIPLES,     NOT    RULES. 

make  only  one  mistake,  that  of  finding  imperfections  in  every- 
body and  everything.  If  the  minister  does  not  preach  the 
Gospel,  attend  some  church  where  the  Gospel  is  preached. 
Attend  that  one  church  and  stand  by  your  minister. 

Sometimes  when  duty  seems  to  require  us  to  do  some  very 
difificult  thing,  people  say,  "  But  how  are  you  going  to  do  it?  " 
I  don't  know  how,  but  that  is  none  of  my  business.  An  old 
colored  woman  was  about  right  when  she  said  that  if  God 
should  tell  her  to  jump  through  a  stone  wall,  she  would  jump 
right  at  it  —  that  getting  through  would  be  God's  work  and 
not  hers;  He  would  see  to  it  if  she  did  what  she  was  told. 

There  is  an  institution  in  London  where  they  take  care  of 
poor  little  street  Arabs.  The  first  thing  they  do  when  one  is 
brought  in  is  to  have  his  picture  taken  in  his  rags  and  dirt,  just 
as  he  looks  when  they  find  him.  Then,  after  he  has  grown  up 
there,  and  has  had  all  the  benefits  of  the  institution,  before  he 
leaves  they  have  his  photograph  taken  again,  and  when  he  de- 
parts they  give  him  the  two  protographs  that  he  may  compare 
them.  It  would  be  a  good  thing  if  we  could  distinctly  remem- 
ber ourselves  as  we  were  when  the  Lord  first  found  us,  and 
compare  that  picture  with  ourselves  when  He  leaves  us  on  the 
hilltops  of  glory. 

Some  young  people  ask  me  questions  about  their  daily 
walk  and  conduct.  They  say,  "  Is  it  right  for  me  to  go  to  the 
theater?"  "Is  it  right  for  me  to  smoke?"  or,  "to  drink 
moderately?"  I  cannot  carry  your  consciences;  Christ  does 
not  lay  down  rules  ;  He  lays  down  principles.  One  rule  I 
have  followed  is  this  :  If  there  is  anything  I  am  troubled  about 
in  my  conscience,  and  am  uncertain  whether  it  is  right  or  not, 
I  give  Christ  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

For  myself,  I  could  not  go  to  a  theater ;  I  would  not  like  to 
have  my  children  go.  I  do  not  do  anything  myself  that  I 
would  not  like  to  have  them  do.  I  could  not  smoke,  because 
I  do  not  want  my  boys  to  smoke.  I  could  not  read  flashy 
novels,  because  I  have  no  desire  to  read  them;  but  if  I  did  I 
would  not  do  it. 


PRAYING    IN    A    BILLIARD    R(JU.M. 


619 


Another  rule  is :  Don't  do  anything  you  cannot  pray  over, 
and  never  go  where  you  cannot  pray  if  you  want  to.  In  one  of 
our  meetings  in  Chicago  a  man  arose  to  speak.  I  di(hi't  know 
him  at  first.  He  had  been  a  rumseller,  but  after  his  business 
had  been  broken  up  he  went  to  the  Rocky  ^Mountains,  and  he 
had  recently  returned.  This  is  how  it  happened.  He  once 
opened  a  saloon  and  a  grand  billiard  hall  in  Chicago.  It  was 
one  of  the  most  magnificent  billiard  halls  on  the  West  Side, 
elegantly  gilded  and  frescoed.  He  sent  me  an  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  opening,  which  I  accepted.  I  went  around  to 
the  place  before  it  was  opened  and  saw  the  partners  and  asked 
them  if  they  would  allow  me  to  bring  a  friend.  They  asked 
me  who  he  was. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  it  isn't  necessary  to  tell  who  he  is.  but  I 
never  go  without  him."    They  began  to  mistrust  me. 

"  Who  is  he?  "  they  again  inquired. 

"  Well,  I'll  come  with  him  and  if  I  see  anything  wrong  I'll 
ask  him  to  forgive  you." 

"  Come,"  said  they,  "  we  don't  want  any  praying." 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  you've  given  me  an  invitation,  and  I'm 
coming." 

"  But  if  you  come  you  needn't  pray,"  they  replied. 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  I'll  tell  you  what  we'll  do,  we'll  com- 
promise the  matter ;  and  if  you  don't  want  me  to  come  and  pray 
for  you,  then  let  me  pray  for  both  of  you  now,"  to  which  they 
agreed. 

It  turned  out  that  one  of  them  had  a  praying  mother,  and 
the  prayer  touched  his  heart ;  the  other  had  a  mother  in  heaven. 
I  asked  God  to  bless  their  souls,  and  break  their  business  to 
pieces.     In  a  few  months  their  business  did  go  all  to  pieces. 

Well,  the  man  who  arose  in  the  prayer-meeting  told  a  story 
that  touched  my  soul.  He  said  his  business  hadn't  prospered 
—  he  failed  and  went  to  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Life  became  a 
burden  to  him  and  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  put  an 
end  to  his  life.  He  took  a  knife  which  he  jnirposed  to  drive 
into  his  heart,  and  sought  a  loncl}-  place  in  the  moimtains  to 


620  LET    YOUR    LIGHT  SHINK. 

kill  himself.  He  raised  the  knife  to  plunge  into  his  heart, 
when  he  heard  a  voice  —  it  was  the  voice  of  his  mother.  He 
remembered  her  dying  words  when  he  was  a  boy.  He  heard 
her  say,  "Johnny,  if  ever  you  get  into  trouble,  pray  to  God." 
The  knife  dropped  from  his  hand,  and  he  asked  God  to  be 
merciful  to  him.  His  prayer  was  answered,  and  he  came  back 
to  Chicago  and  lifted  up  his  voice  for  Him.  Just  the  moment 
he  cried  for  mercy  he  got  it. 

If  you  cannot  do  a  thing  honestly,  give  it  up,  let  the  conse- 
quences be  what  they  may.  If  you  take  my  advice  you  will 
never  touch  strong  drink  as  long  as  you  live.  Many  young 
converts  who  have  fallen  owe  their  relapse  to  that  cursed  cup. 
You  say,  "  Some  church  members,  some  Christians  who  stand 
high,  drmk  moderately."  Well,  don't  you  touch  it  if  they  do. 
Some  men  have  strong  wills  and  can  tell  when  to  stop ;  but 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  have  not  strong  wills,  and  your 
son  may  be  the  very  next  one  to  go  too  far.  If  it  is  not  an  in- 
jury to  yourselves,  give  it  up  for  Christ's  sake  and  for  the  sake 
of  others. 

A  friend  of  mine  was  walking  along  the  streets  one  dark 
night  and  he  saw  a  blind  man  coming  along  with  a  lantern. 
He  said  to  him,  "  My  friend,  are  you  not  blind?"  "Yes," 
was  the  answer.  "  Then  what  do  you  carry  that  lantern  for?  " 
Said  he,  "  I  carry  the  lantern  that  people  may  not  stumble  over 
me."  Let  us  hold  up  our  light,  burning  with  the  clear  radiance 
of  Heaven,  that  others  may  not  stumble  over  us. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

QUALIFICATIONS  FOR  CHRISTIAN  WORK  —  FAITH, 
COURAGE,  ENTHUSIASM,  AND  PERSEVERANCE  — 
NINE  NEW  THINGS  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN. 

A  Scutclinian's  Observation  —  "We  Die,  but  Never  Surrender"  — 
Weighing  Men  —  "  Man  Overboard  !  "  —  The  Light  at  the  Port 
Hole  —  Saved  by  a  Seasick  Man  —  The  Woman  Who  Went  to 
War  with  a  Poker — -Wandering  in  the  Blizzard  —  The  Tiny  Light 
in  the  Window  —  The  Man  by  the  Lamp-post  —  An  Impudent 
Fellow  —  "Moody,  You  Are  Too  Zealous"  —  An  Unexpected 
Call  at  Daybreak — ^  An  Incident  in  Mr.  Moody's  Early  Life  — 
"Go  Pick  Cotton"  —  Why  One  Stone  was  Missing  —  Stephen 
Girard  and  the  Irishman  —  An  Affecting  Scene  —  "I  was 
There!"  — A  Fatal  Mistake  —  Hanging  On  to  the  "Old 
Man"  —  Dressing  L^p  "  Out.=;idc  "  and  "Inside"  —  Story  of  the 
Farmer  and  His  Pump  —  "  I'll  Soon  Make  that  Right"  —  Patch- 
ing Up  "  Old  Adam  "  —  The  Old  Judge  and  His  Negro,  Sambo  — 
Singing  to  a  Dying  Woman  —  "  Good   Night." 

IF  YOU  will  read  the  lives  of  tliose  who  have  been  eminent 
in  God's  service,  you  will  find  they  have  always  been  men 
of  FAITH.  I  like  to  meet  a  man  who  believes,  and 
knows  what  he  believes.  To  have  faith  that  God  can  do  a 
thin.c:  is  one  thing,  but  to  have  faith  that  God  will  use  us  is 
quite  another.  I  heard  a  Scotchman  remark  many  years  ago 
—  and  it  burned  down  into  my  soul  —  that  there  was  not  a 
man  who,  when  in  Saul's  armor,  but  knew  that  God  could  use 
him,  but  the  one  man  who  believed  that  God  ivoitld  use  him 
went  out  and  slew  the  giant.  There  is  a  difference.  David 
had  faith  to  believe  that  God  would  u.se  him.  It  is  this  miser- 
able unbelief  that  is  keeping  back  the  blessing. 

When  God  told  Moses  to  send  out  the  twelve  spies  into  the 
land  of  Canaan,  it  was  on  account  of  their  luibclief.  God  had 
told  them  He  would  take  them  into  the  Promised  Land,  and 
that  was  enough.  They  didn't  need  to  send  out  spies  to  see 
if  the  Almighty  had  told  the  truth.     I  believe  the  twelve  men 

(621) 


622  THE    NEED    OF    ENTHUSIASINI. 

were  representative  men,  and  the  best  the  tribes  had.  They 
l^rought  back  a  minority  and  a  majority  report.  They  all  ad- 
mitted that  what  God  said  was  true;  but  ten  of  them  added  to 
their  report,  "  There  we  saw  the  giants,  the  sons  of  Anak, 
which  come  of  the  giants;  and  we  were  in  our  own  sight  as 
grasshoppers,  and  so  we  were  in  their  sight."  Send  out  twelve 
men  now,  and  they  would  bring  back  just  such  a  report.  Send 
out  twelve  officers  of  the  church,  and  ten  of  them  would  throw 
cold  water  on  any  movement  that  suggested  going  forward. 

Saloons  and  haunts  of  vice  would  be  as  nothing  if  the 
Church  of  God  would  rise  in  its  strength.  We  could  with 
faith  sweep  these  abominations  out  of  the  way.  It  is  faith 
that  the  world  can  sec  that's  needed.  Some  think  that  you 
can't  see  faith.     ]^ou  can't.     Cod  can. 

Then,  another  thing  needed  is  COURAGE.  What  we 
want  is  the  courage  of  our  convictions.  I  believe  that  the  rea- 
son why  so  many  men  in  the  Lord's  work  fail  is  because  they 
are  afraid  of  public  opinion.  Know  that  you  are  right,  then 
go  ahead.  A  man  told  me  some  time  ago  that  he  once  started 
a  good  work,  and  because  a  newspaper  published  an  article 
against  it  he  got  discouraged  and  gave  it  up.  The  idea  of  a 
newspaper  stopping  him.  They  used  to  take  martyrs  to  the 
stake  and  burn  them  up  in  vain  efforts  to  make  them  yield. 
If  you  see  a  sm,  smite  it.  What  we  want  is  courage  to  speak 
out  our  convictions.  If  a  thing  is  right,  stand  by  if.  If  it  is 
wrong,  fight  it. 

Another  thing  that  men  are  greatly  afraid  of  is  ENTHU- 
SIASM. Do  you  know  what  that  word  means?  I  will  tell 
you:  "IN  GOD."  That  is  what  it  means.  Would  to  God 
we  had  a  thousand  times  more  enthusiasm  than  we  have.  I 
am  not  afraid  of  holy  enthusiasm;  it  is  a  good  thing  to  have. 
During  our  Civil  War  there  were  certain  men  whose  names 
were  worth  more  than  an  army  of  ten  thousand  men.  Why? 
Because  they  inspired  enthusiasm  that  carried  everything  be- 
fore it.  When  Phil  Sheridan  was  promoted  —  I  was  in  the 
army  at  the  time  —  and  the  men  learned  that  he  was  to  com- 


DEVOTION  TO  OUR  LKADKR. 


623 


iiiand  them,  cheer  upon  cheer  rang-  up  and  down  the  hncs. 
'i'hey  were  encouraged  to  fight,  and  tlic}-  feh  that  the  battle 
might  now  go  on  and  that  they  would  gain  the  victory. 

A  man  once  accused  an  enthusiast  for  Christ  of  being  mad. 
•"  Well,"  said  the  enthusiast,  "  1  have  got  a  good  as_\lum  to  go 
to  and  a  good  keeper  on  the  wa>!  "  God  cannot  use  you  until 
you  are  willing  to  have  the  world  point  the  finger  of  scorn  at 
you.  Tf  the  world  hasn't  got  anything  to  say  against  us  it  is 
pretty  sure  that  Christ  won't  have  much  to  say  for  us.  Some- 
body once  spoke  to  a  young  convert  who  was  trying  to  preach 
in  the  street,  and  said,  "  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself." 
"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  am,  but  I  am  not  ashamed  of  my  Saviour." 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  man  back  in  the  ninth  century, 
I  think,  who  undertook  with  a  little  handful  of  men  to  attack 
a  king  with  an  army  of  30,000;  and  when  the  king  heard  that 
he  had  only  five  hundred  men,  he  sent  a  message  to  the  young 
general  —  perhaps  he  thought  he  was  an  enthusiast  and  was 
mad  —  that  if  he  would  surrender  he  would  be  very  merciful  to 
him  and  spare  his  life.  The  young  general  heard  the  messen- 
ger, and  when  he  got  through  he  said  to  one  of  his  soldiers,  "Go 
leap  into  yonder  chasm,"  and  over  he  went  into  the  jaws  of 
death.  Then  he  called  another,  and,  handing  him  a  dagger, 
said,  "  Take  that  and  drive  into  your  heart."  And  the  soldier 
drove  it  into  his  heart,  staggered  forward,  and  fell  dead.  Then 
he  turned  to  the  messenger  and  said,  "  Go  back  and  tell  your 
king  that  T  have  five  hundred  such  men;  tell  him  we  die,  but 
never  surrender."  When  the  king  heard  that  five  hundred 
such  men  were  before  him,  his  army  became  demoralized  and 
fled.  That  story  is  recorded  in  history.  Whether  it  is  true  or 
not,  T  don't  know.  But  "  one  shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  two 
put  ten  thousand  to  flight."  I  have  seen  it  verified.  .\  man 
full  of  fire  and  enthusiasm  is  worth  a  thousand  others  at  any 
time.  The  trouble  is.  a  great  many  are  looking  at  the  ob- 
stacles and  the  army  that  is  against  us.  Some  men  arc  to  be 
counted  just  as  you  would  count  penny  pies,  or  tin  soldiers; 
other  men  vou've  got  to  weigh. 


624  CHEER    ON    THE    WORKERS. 

I  think  I  liear  some  of  yon  with  silver  locks  saying,  "  I  wish 
I  were  young,  how  I  would  rush  into  the  battle."  Well,  if  you 
cannot  be  a  fighter,  you  can  pray  and  encourage  the  others. 
There  are  two  kinds  of  old  people  in  the  world.  One  kind  has 
become  chilled  and  sour,  they  have  no  warmth  of  feeling;  but 
the  others  light  up  .every  meeting  with  their  genial  presence, 
and  cheer  on  the  workers.  Draw  near,  old  age,  and  cheer  on 
the  workers,  and  take  them  by  the  hand  and  encourage  them. 
There  was  a  building  on  fire.  The  flames  leaped  around  the 
staircase,  and  from  a  three-story  window  a  little  boy  was  seen, 
crying  piteously  for  help.  The  only  way  to  reach  him  was 
by  a  ladder.  One  was  obtained  and  a  fireman  ascended,  but 
when  he  had  almost  reached  the  boy,  the  flames  broke  from 
the  window  and  leaped  around  him.  He  faltered  and  seemed 
afraid  to  go  further.  Suddenly  some  one  in  the  crowd  shouted 
"  Give  him  a  cheer,"  and  cheer  after  cheer  went  up.  The  fire- 
man was  nerved  with  new  energy,  and  rescued  the  child.  Just 
so  with  our  young  men.  Whenever  you  see  them  wavering, 
cheer  them  on.  If  you  cannot  work  yourself,  give  them  cheers 
to  nerve  them  on  in  their  glorious  work. 

Some  years  ago  I  heard  of  a  man  who  accomplished  some- 
thing when  he  was  seasick ;  and  that's  the  time  a  man  doesn't 
usually  attempt  to  do  anything  for  anybody  else;  he  is  too 
much  occupied  with  himself.  One  night  while  this  man  was 
very  sick,  he  heard  the  startling  cry  on  deck,  "  Man  over- 
board! "  "  Poor  fellow,"  he  said,  "  I  wish  T  was  well,  and  then 
perhaps  I  could  do  something  to  save  him."  It  was  dark,  and 
all  at  once  the  thought  occurred  to  him  :  "  If  I  hold  the  light  at 
the  porthole  it  may  do  some  good."  So  he  held  a  light  at  the 
porthole;  and  by  and  by  he  heard  that  the  man  was  saved. 
The  man  who  had  held  the  light  laid  down  again  and  had  an- 
other turn  at  being  seasick.  By  and  by  he  crawled  up  on  deck 
and  got  into  conversation  with  a  man.  After  talking  with  him 
awhile  he  found,  to  his  surprise,  that  he  was  the  very  man  who 
had  fallen  overboard.  The  man  said  he  was  going  down  the 
third  time  and  had  given  up  all  hope,  when  someone  put  a  light 


KKKl'IXG    AT    IT. 


625 


at  the  porthole  and  the  sailors  just  saw  his  hand  and  seized  it. 
That  light  at  the  porthole  had  saved  his  life.  My  dear  friends, 
you  can  hold  the  light  for  someone  else,  can't  you?  You  can 
do  something  if  you  will. 

The  next  thing  is  PERSEVERANCE.  Spurgcon  used 
to  call  it  "  Stick-to-it-ive-ness."  That's  what  we  w^ant.  If  we 
don't  succeed  to-day.  we  will  go  at  it  all  the  stronger  to- 
morrow; if  we  don't  succeed  on  Sunday,  we'll  try  again  on 
Monday;  if  we  don't  get  it  in  February,  w^e  will  go  at  it  in 
March;  and  if  we  fail  in  March,  we  will  try  it  in  April,  and  we 
will  not  let  up  all  summer.  There's  no  calendar  in  Heaven. 
Don't  stop  work  in  summer.  Saloons  and  all  the  haunts  of 
vice  are  wide  open  every  day  and  every  night  in  the  week,  and 
while  we  are  sleeping  Satan  is  doing  his  work. 

I  remember  years  ago  I  got  discouraged  because  I  could 
not  see  much  fruit  from  my  work.  One  morning,  when  I  was 
in  my  study,  much  depressed,  one  of  my  Sunday-school 
teachers  came  in  and  wanted  to  know  what  I  was  discouraged 
about,  and  I  told  him  it  was  because  I  could  see  no  results 
from  my  work.  "  By  the  way."  he  said.  "  did  you  ever  study 
the  character  of  Noah?"  I  thought  I  knew  all  about  Noah, 
and  I  told  him  so;  but  he  said.  "  Xow.  if  you  have  never 
studied  Noah  carefully,  you  ought  to  do  it,  for  I  cannot  tell  you 
what  a  blessing  his  example  has  been  to  me."  After  he  went 
out  I  took  my  Bible  and  commenced  to  read  about  Noah,  and 
the  thought  came  stealing"  over  me,  "  Here  is  a  man  who  toiled 
and  worked  a  hundred  years  and  didn't  get  discouraged;  if  he 
did,  the  Holy  Ghost  didn't  put  it  on  record."  The  clotids 
lifted,  and  I  got  up  and  said.  "  If  the  Lord  wants  me  to  work 
without  any  fruit  I  will  work  on." 

That  day  I  went  down  to  the  noon  prayer-meeting,  and 
when  I  saw  the  people  coming  to  pray  I  said  to  myself,  "  Noah 
worked  a  hundred  years,  and  he  never  saw  a  prayer-meeting 
outside  of  his  own  family."  Pretty  soon  a  man  got  up.  right 
across  the  aisle  from  where  I  was  sitting",  and  said  he  had 
come  from  a  little  town  where  a  hundred  had  imited  with  the 

1        '' 


626  TAKING    A    DECIDED    STAND. 

church  the  year  before.  And  I  thought  to  myself,  "  What  if 
Noah  had  heard  that!  He  preached  so  many,  many  years  and 
didn't  get  a  convert,  yet  he  was  not  discouraged."  Then  a 
man  got  up  right  behind  me,  and  he  trembled  as  he  said,  "  I 
•am  lost.  I  want  you  to  pray  for  my  soul."  And  I  said  to 
myself,  "What  if  Noah  had  heard  that!  He  worked  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  years,  and  never  had  a  man  come  to  him  and 
say  that;  and  yet  he  didn't  get  discouraged."  I  made  up  my 
mind  then,  that,  God  helping  me,  I  would  never  get  discour- 
aged again.  I  would  do  the  best  I  could,  and  leave  the  results 
with  God,  and  it  has  been  a  wonderful  help  to  me. 

Now,  if  we  are  going  to  be  successful,  we  must  take  our 
stand  for  God,  and  let  the  world  know  we  are  on  the  Lord's 
side.  I  have  great  respect  for  the  woman  who  started  out 
during  the  war  with  a  poker.  She  heard  the  enemy  was 
coming  and  she  went  out  to  meet  them.  When  some  one 
asked  her  what  she  could  do  with  a  poker,  she  said  she  would 
at  least  let  everyone  know  which  side  she  was  on.  That  is 
what  we  want;  and  the  time  is  coming  when  the  line  must  be 
drawn,  and  those  on  Christ's  side  must  take  their  stand. 

It  is  a  fact  that  all  men  like  to  rule.  A  business  man  says, 
"  If  lean  stand  at  the  head,  commercially,  I  shall  be  satisfied." 
Go  to  the  great  universities  and  you  will  find  men  there  who 
are  striving  to  stand  at  the  head  of  their  profession.  Every 
newspaper  wants  to  outdo  the  others.  Every  true  soldier 
wants  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  army.  Statesmen  have  their 
eves  fixed  on  the  White  House.  A  mother  sends  her  boy  to 
school,  and  if  he  receives  high  honors  she  manages  to  let 
everybody  know  it.     It  is  natural  to  want  to  be  at  the  head. 

I  was  in  Paris  many  years  ago,  when  Napoleon  III  was 
reigning  in  all  his  glory.  When  he  went  through  the  streets 
there  was  great  excitement.  You  could  hear  the  cheers  of  the 
populace  all  along  the  line.  I  went  into  the  Exposition,  and 
when  the  Prince  Imperial  entered,  men  almost  went  crazy. 
They  seemed  to  have  lost  their  heads  over  that  young  prince. 
Onlv  three  or  four  years  after  that  a  little  narrow  house  two 


THE    LITTLK    LK.IIT    IN    THK    WINDOW.  627 

or  three  feet  wide  and  seven  feet  long  was  all  that  the  great 
Napoleon  needed.  His  name  was  soon  almost  forgotten,  and 
to  this  day  France  has  not  allowed  his  dead  body  to  be  brought 
back.  The  body  of  the  Prince  Imperial  has  never  been  taken 
back.  That,  my  friends,  is  a  sample  of  the  glory  of  this  world. 
It  soon  fades  —  soon  passes  away  —  and  the  place  that  knows 
von  now  shall  soon  know  you  no  more.  Your  names  will  soon 
be  forgotten  if  you  live  only  for  this  world. 

A  man  in  Minnesota,  some  years  ago,  was  caught  in  a 
blizzard,  —  and  a  blizzard  out  there  is  a  blizzard  indeed.  On 
those  great  rolling  prairies  the  wind  seems  to  come  right  from 
the  North  Pole  with  nothing  to  stop  it.  After  wandering  in 
the  blinding  storm  he  got  lost,  and  was  ready  to  lie  down  and 
die,  when  he  saw  a  tiny  light  in  a  log  cabin.  The  people  living 
there  thought  there  might  possibly  be  some  one  in  danger  of 
])erishing  in  the  storm,  and  so  had  put  a  light  in  the  window. 
He  made  his  way  toward  it,  and  his  life  was  saved.  He  after- 
wards became  a  wealthy  luan  and  bought  the  farm  where  that 
log  cabin  stood,  and  put  up  a  lighthouse  on  top  of  the  house, 
hoping  to  save  others.     I  like  that,  don't  you? 

I  used  to  have  a  rule,  and  it  was  a  wonderful  help  to  me, 
never  to  let  a  day  pass  without  speaking  to  somebody  about 
his  eternal  welfare  ;  and  if  I  did  no  good  to  anybody  else,  it 
was  good  exercise  for  me,  and  helped  to  keep  my  heart  warm. 
When  I  was  living  in  Chicago  a  good  many  years  ago.  I  re- 
called the  fact,  one  night  at  ten  o'clock,  that  I  had  not  that 
day  personally  said  a  word  to  direct  an}bod}'  to  the  kingdom 
of  God.  I  went  out  and  saw  a  man  standing  by  a  lamp-post. 
Stepping  up  to  him  and  laying  my  hand  on  his  shoulder,  I  said: 

"  Are  you  a  Christian?  " 

Pie  flew  into  a  rage,  clenched  his  fists,  and  threatened  to 
knock  me  into  the  gutter.     He  said: 

"  That's  none  of  your  business." 

Well,  I  didn't  know  that  he  knew  me,  and  I  went  on  talk- 
ing to  hiiu.  He  went  to  a  good  friend  of  mine,  an  elder  in  the 
church,  and  said: 


528  ZEAL,    OR    KNOWLEDGE? 

"  Do  you  know  that  man  Moody  is  doing  more  harm  in 
Chicago  than  any  ten  men  are  doing  good?" 

He  said  I  was  an  impudent  fellow  to  stop  a  man  on  the 
street  to  ask  about  his  soul.     The  elder  came  to  me  and  said: 

"  Moody,  you  are  too  zealous.  You  do  more  harm  than 
good,  you  know.  There's  such  a  thing  as  having  zeal  with 
knowledge." 

"Well,"  I  said,  "I'd  rather  have  zeal  without  knowledge 
than  knowledge  without  zeal." 

The  elder  labored  with  me,  but,  thank  God,  he  never 
stopped  me.  I  had  had  a  taste  of  the  work  and  liked  it. 
There  is  no  joy  like  the  joy  of  helping  others. 

About  three  months  after,  —  this  was  before  I  was  mar- 
ried,—  I  was  sleeping  in  the  rooms  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  I  was  janitor.  Superintendent,  Presi- 
dent, and  Director,  and  really  the  only  one  to  do  the  work. 
One  bitterly  cold  morning  in  winter,  at  daybreak,  I  heard  some 
one  knocking  at  the  door.  I  woke  up,  went  to  the  door,  and 
said: 

"  Who  is  there?  " 

"  A  stranger." 

"What  do  you  want?" 

"  I  want  to  talk  to  you  about  my  soul." 

I  opened  the  door,  and  there,  to  my  astonishment,  was  the 
man  who  cursed  me  for  speaking  to  him  as  he  leaned  against 
the  lamp-post.  He  was  very  pale,  and  trembled  all  over.  I 
didn't  know  but  he  had  delirium  tremens.     He  said: 

"  Do  you  remember  stopping  a  man  some  months  ago  at 
ten  o'clock  at  night  on  Lake  Street,  and  he  got  angry,  and 
cursed  you?  " 

"  I  do." 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  I  am  that  man.  I  am  very  sorry.  I 
have  had  no  peace  for  three  months.  Your  words  have 
haunted  and  troubled  me.  I  could  not  sleep  last  night,  and 
T  have  come  to  ask  you  to  pray  for  me.  I  want  to  become  a 
Christian." 


OBEDIENCE    AND    FAITHFULNESS.  629 

That  man  accepted  Christ,  and  the  moment  he  had  done 
so,  he  asked: 

"  Can't  I  do  something  for  Christ?  Won't  you  give  me 
some  work  to  do  for  Him?  " 

I  took  liim  over  to  my  Sunday-school.  He  went  hard  at 
work  with  a  class  of  rough  boys,  and  taught  them  until  the 
Civil  \\'ar  broke  out,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  army.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  to  fall  in  battle,  but  not  before  he  had  given 
ringing  testimony  for  God. 

Some  one  has  said  that  if  an  angel  should  be  sent  to  earth 
to  sweep  the  streets,  or  to  rule  an  empire,  it  would  be  all  the 
same  to  him.  That  is  just  what  the  Lord  wants  men  to  do,  — 
obey  his  commands.  If  you  want  eternal  salvation  you  can 
have  it  to-day.  What  are  the  terms?  Obedience.  W^ill  you 
obey?  If  He  tells  you  to  repent,  then  repent.  Does  He  say. 
Go  preach?  Then  go  and  preach.  "  \Miatsoever  He  saith 
unto  you,  do  it."  But  be  sure  He  says  it.  Do  not  follow  your 
own  will,  your  own  ideas.  A  negro  saw  a  sign  which  read 
"  G.  P.  C."  He  said  that  meant  "  Go  Preach  Christ,"  and  he 
proposed  to  leave  his  work  and  go  to  preaching.  But  another 
negro  came  up  and  said,  "  No,  that  ain't  it.  It's  '  Go  Pick 
Cotton.'  "  If  your  work  is  to  preach  the  Gospel,  then  preach; 
if  it  is  to  pick  cotton,  then  pick  cotton. 

I  remember  hearing  of  a  person  who  was  always  trying  to 
do  some  great  thing  for  the  Lord,  and  because  he  could  not 
do  a  great  thing  he  never  did  anything.  A  man  dreamed  that 
when  he  died  he  was  taken  by  angels  to  a  beautiful  temple. 
After  admiring  it  for  a  time,  he  discovered  that  one  little  stone 
was  missing.  He  said  to  the  angel.  "  \Miy  was  the  stone  left 
out?"  The  angel  replied.  "That  place  was  left  for  you,  but 
you  wanted  to  do  great  things,  and  so  it  was  left  unfilled."  He 
awoke,  and  was  startled,  and  resolved  that  he  would  become  a 
worker  for  God;  and  he  always  worked  faithfully  for  Him 
after  that. 

A  good  many  years  ago  a  railroad  superintendent  tele- 
graphed to  a  man  who  had  charge  of  a  drawbridge  not  to  open 


630  A    FATAL    ERROR. 

it  until  after  an  extra  train  had  passed.  A  friend  came  and 
persuaded  him  to  open  the  bridge  to  let  some  boats  through. 
He  thought  there  would  be  time  to  let  the  boats  pass  and 
swing  the  bridge  back  before  the  train  came.  But  he  had 
hardly  opened  it  before  he  heard  the  train  approaching,  and 
he  didn't  have  time  to  get  the  bridge  back  before  the  train 
plunged  into  the  river.  The  man  realized  what  he  had  done, 
and  his  brain  reeled.  Thc}'  sent  him  to  a  madhouse,  and  for 
years  he  walked  up  and  down  that  madhouse  saying  "  If  I 
only  had;  if  I  only  had!  "  Had  what?  Obeyed  orders;  that 
is  all;  been  obedient.  People  seem  to  think  obedience  isn't 
very  important;  T  don't  know  of  anything  that  is  more  im- 
portant. Disobedience  has  destroyed  families  and  wrecked 
nations. 

A  story  is  told  of  Stephen  Girard  and  an  Irishman  who 
came  to  his  place  of  business  and  wanted  work.  Mr.  Girard 
liked  his  looks,  and  said: 

"  Do  you  see  that  pile  of  bricks  in  the  yard?" 

"  Yes,  sir."    * 

"  Pile  them  uj)  in  the  other  end  of  the  yard." 

He  did  it.  The  work  was  done,  and  well  done.  Pie  said 
to  Mr.  Girard: 

"  Can  you  give  me  work  to-morrow?" 

"  Yes,  come  back." 

The  next  morning  he  came  back,  and  Mr.  Girard  told  him 
to  go  and  pile  up  the  bricks  where  they  were  at  first.  He  did 
it  without  a  word,  and  at  night  asked  if  he  could  have  more 
work. 

"  Yes,  come  again." 

And  he  came  and  was  bidden  to  pile  the  bricks  up  again. 
And  Girard  kept  him  piling  up  the  bricl<s  here  and  there,  until 
he  found  out  that  he  was  just  the  man  he  wanted  —  a  man 
who  would  obey. 

One  day  he  said  to  him: 

"  There  is  to  be  a  large  auction  sale  of  sugar,  and  I  want 
you  to  go  down  to  the  wharf  and  bid  it  in  for  me." 


A    WONDERFUL    Al'PKAL.  63 1 

People  laughed  at  the  green  Irishman's  bidding-,  but  finally 
the  sugar  was  sold  to  him. 

'*  Who  is  to  pay  for  this?"  said  the  auctioneer,  gruffly. 

"  JMr.  Girard,  sir." 

"Are  you  Mr.  Girard's  agent?" 

"  Yes,  sir." 

They  scraped  and  bowed,  and  he  was  a  great  man  in  their 
estimation  then.  Girard  had  found  a  man  he  could  trust;  God 
wants  to  find  a  man  He  can  trust.  Obedience  is  prompt, 
cheerful,  willing  action.  Do  what  God  wants  you  to  do  with- 
out asking  any  questions. 

The  first  time  I  went  to  Europe,  the  Hon.  Geo.  L.  Stuart 
said,  "  lie  sure  and  go  to  Edinburgh  and  attend  the  General 
Assembly.  Dr.  Dufif  is  to  be  present,  and  if  he  makes  a  speech 
on  Foreign  Missions,  you  can't  afford  to  miss  it."  I  heard 
that  speech.  T  shall  never  forget  it.  I  went  from  London  to 
Edinburgh,  four  hundred  miles,  and  I  didn't  think  much  of 
the  money  either,  and  I  spent  a  week  there.  That  man  had  fire. 
If  there  is  a  man  who  has  fire,  get  near  to  him.  He  had 
concentrated  his  life  upon  one  thing,  the  Missionary  work  in 
India,  and  that  was  what  made  his  influence  so  mighty.  Dr. 
DufT  once  stood  for  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half  l:)efore  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  the  Free  Ghurch  of  Scotland,  made  up  of  six 
or  eight  hundred  ministers  of  Scotland,  and  the  finest  men  in- 
the  country,  and  plead  for  India  with  all  the  power  that  God 
gave  him.  At  last  he  fainted  away,  and  they  carried  him  into 
the  vestibule,  and  worked  over  him  for  some  time.  When  he 
came  to,  he  said: 

"Where  am  I?" 

"  In  the  Free  Assembly  Hall." 

"  Yes,  yes,  I  remember,  I  was  making  a  plea  for  India.  I 
hadn't  quite  finished  my  speech.     Take  me  back." 

"  Doctor  Duff,  if  you  go  back,  you  will  do  it  at  the  peril  of 
your  life." 

"  Oh,  I  beg  of  you  to  take  me  back.  The  General  Assem- 
bly breaks  up  to-night.     They  will  not  meet  again  for  twelve 


632  THE    POWER    OF    ENTHUSIASM. 

months.  It  is  my  last  opportunity.  Take  me  back,  and  let 
me  finish  that  speech.     I  shall  die  if  I  do  not." 

He  had  white  hair  and  a  venerable  beard,  and  he  was  so 
weak  that  two  men  had  to  help  him  up  on  the  platform. 
When  the  elders  saw  him,  they  all  arose,  and  as  he  pleaded 
they  burst  into  tears.  The  veteran  missionary  stood  with  his 
hand  on  the  rail,  faint  and  exhausted,  and  finished  his  speech. 
He  said: 

"  Is  it  true,  fathers  and  mothers  of  Scotland,  that  you  have 
no  more  sons  to  give  to  India?  When  Queen  Victoria  wants 
men  to  go  there,  hundreds  of  men  volunteer  and  are  anxious 
to  go,  and  their  parents  buy  a  commission  and  give  their  sons 
to  the  army  of  India.  And  here  is  the  Lord  Jesus  calling  for 
volunteers;  there  is  the  money  to  send  them,  but  there  are  no 
men.  Fathers  and  mothers  say  they  don't  want  their  sons 
exposed  to  the  diseases  of  India,  and  are  afraid  they  will  lose 
them.  Is  it  true  that  Scotland  has  no  more  sons  to  give  for 
India?  If  it  is  true,  although  I  have  come  back  in  my  old 
age  with  a  shattered  constitution,  to  die  with  my  family,  if  it 
is  true  that  Scotland  has  no  more  sons  to  give,  I  will  pack  up 
to-morrow  and  be  off  to  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  and  let  the 
people  of  India  know  that  there  is  one  poor  old  Scotchman 
who  can  die  for  them." 

That  is  what  I  call  fire  and  enthusiasm.  And  it  was  not 
long  after  that  that  all  the  men  they  could  send  volunteered 
to  go. 

It  is  said  of  Napoleon  that  after  one  of  his  great  battles 
he  had  some  medals  struck  oiT,  with  a  record  of  the  battle  on 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  side  the  words  "  I  WAS  THERE." 
The  old  veterans  w'ould  take  out  these  medals  and  proudly 
show  them,  and  say,  "  I  WAS  THERE."  They  were  proud 
of  the  fact  that  they  were  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight.  My 
friends,  the  battle  of  life  will  soon  be  over;  the  conflict  done. 
With  many  of  us  it  w'ill  be  a  great  thing  when  the  strife  is  over 
to  say,  "  I  WAS  THERE." 


BORN    OF    THE    SPIRIT.  633 

NINE  NEW  THINGS  FOR  THE  CHRISTIAN. 

A  man  must  have  a  NEW  HEART  before  he  can  serve 
God.  It  is  a  calamity  for  men  or  women  to  become  church 
members  before  they  are  born  of  the  Sjiirit.  I  think  a  good 
many  people  are  in  bondage  and  darkness  to-day  because  they 
made  that  fatal  mistake.  They  joined  the  church,  were  bap- 
tized, and  confirmed;  they  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
think  that  observing  the  Lord's  ordinances  is  the  new  birth. 
All  these  are  right  in  their  place,  but  when  you  put  them  in  the 
place  of  salvation,  or  the  new  birth,  it  is  then  that  you  make  a 
woeful  mistake.  Profession  is  not  conversion.  A  beggar 
may  put  on  a  good  coat  —  he  is  a  beggar  still.  A  man  may 
have  leprosy,  and  cover  it  up,  and  be  a  leper  still.  Conversion 
is  being  "  born  from  above,"  "  born  of  God,"  "  born  again." 
I  beg  you  not  to  be  deceived,  and  build  your  hopes  of  Heaven 
upon  a  false  foundation.  What  you  want  is  to  be  sure  that 
you  start  right;  that  you  have  been  "  born  of  the  Spirit." 

Some  may  say,  "  I  don't  know  when  or  where  old  things 
passed  away;  because  I  can't  set  the  day  and  the  hour  when  I 
was  converted,  I  am  not  sure  that  I  am  converted."  I  don't 
think  I  would  cross  the  street  to  find  out  zvJicn  I  was  converted; 
but  I  would  go  around  the  world  to  find  out  if  I  was  con- 
verted. Bishop  Simpson  said  that  he  was  led  to  Christ  by  a 
godly  mother  before  he  was  four  years  old.  He  could  not 
remember  when  he  was  brought  into  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  tell  when  and  where,  but  it  is  important 
to  know  that  "  old  things  have  passed  away."  The  Scotch 
lassie  said  "either  I  have  changed,  or  Scotland  has,"  because 
all  things  looked  different  to  her.  The  sun  shone  brighter, 
the  heather  was  sweeter,  and  the  Scotch  air  was  a  good  deal 
purer. 

I  remember  a  man  who  got  up  in  one  of  our  meetings  in 
New  York;  he  had  just  been  converted,  and  his  face  shone. 
He  said,  "  I  am  a  new  man  in  the  same  old  clothes."  Well, 
he  zvas  a  "  new  man,"  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  People 
are  sometimes  anxious  to  get  into  their  "  new  clothes,"  but 


534  ^'OT    PATCHES,    BUT    A    NEW    NATURE. 

they  want  to  keep  the  "  old  man."  If  you  are  trying  to  help 
people,  don't  be  so  anxious  to  "  dress  them  up  "  outside  as  to 
dress  them  up  inside.  Get  the  heart  right,  and  everything  else 
will  come  right. 

A  man  bought  a  farm  on  which  he  found  an  old  pump,  and 
he  began  pumping.     A  neighbor  came  along  and  said: 

"  Look  here,  my  friend,  don't  drink  that  water,  it's  impure. 
The  man  who  lived  here  before  used  water  from  that  well,  and 
it  poisoned  him,  and  his  wife,  and  all  his  children." 

"Is  that  so?"  said  the  man;  "Well,  I'll  soon  make  that 
right." 

And  he  got  some  paint  and  painted  the  pump,  puttied  up 
all  the  holes,  and  filled  up  the  cracks,  and  he  had  a  very  fine 
looking  pump.     And  he  said: 

"  Now  I  am  sure  it  is  all  right." 

But  you  would  say  :  "  What  a  fool ;  only  to  paint  the  pump 
when  the  water  is  bad."  Yet  that  is  just  like  what  a  man  is 
doing  who  is  trying  to  save  himself.  It  is  not  a  new  pump 
that  is  wanted;  it  is  nczv  icafcr.  Make  the  fountain  good  and 
the  stream  will  be  good.     It  is  new  hearts  that  men  want. 

A  friend  once  showed  me  a  brownstone  house  which  was 
built  by  contract  while  the  owner  was  in  Europe.  After  he 
moved  into  it  he  found  that  only  the  front  had  been  built  of 
stone,  while  the  sides  were  built  of  brick,  and  plastered  over 
so  as  to  look  exactly  like  the  brownstone.  The  first  winter's 
frost  cracked  off  the  plaster,  and  the  next  spring  the  man  had 
to  patch  it  all  over.  He  kept  on  doing  this  for  several  years, 
but  at  last  he  got  disgusted,  took  down  all  the  plastered  walls, 
and  had  them  rebuilt  with  stone.  A  great  many  men  are 
trying  to  patch  up  the  "  old  Adam."  They  say  they  are  going 
to  begin  a  new  life,  and  they  begin  to  patch  up  the  old  nature, 
and  they  are  worse  than  they  were  before.  It  is  a  new  crea- 
tion that  is  needed.  A  man,  if  Ijorn  from  above,  is  a  new 
creature. 

I  have  been  a  Christian  for  more  than  forty  years,  and  I 
find  myself  still  putting  off  the  old  things.     I  shall  probably 


(;IV1N(;    WAY    TO    THE    OLD    NATURE.  635 

fiiul,  if  I  am  living;  ton  years  from  now,  that  1  shall  not  do 
some  things  1  am  doing"  now.  Wc  must  get  nearer  to  the 
cross.  If  a  man  is  born  of  God,  he  is  become  a  new  creature; 
he  has  a  new  nature.  Here  is  the  vital  point.  I  was  a  riddle 
to  myself  the  first  few  years  I  was  converted.  I  thought  God 
took  away  the  old  nature  entirely.  When  God  converts  a 
man  He  does  not  take  away  the  old  nature,  He  gives  him  a 
new  nature.  Every  man  has  two  natures.  He  has  a  higher 
and  a  lower,  a  carnal  and  a  spiritual,  a  fleshly  and  a  heavenly, 
an  earthly  and  a  glorified  nature.  That  is  the  teaching  of  the 
Bible,  and  it  is  a  vital  point. 

You  w^ill  often  find  the  best  Christians  doing  strange  things. 
Why  ?  Because  they  have  given  wa\-  to  the  old  nature.  The 
horse  has  but  one  nature,  and  he  is  true  to  it.  The  sheep,  the 
ox,  are  true  to  their  natures.  But  a  child  of  God  has  two 
natures,  one  a  deceitful,  corrupt,  and  carnal  nature,  the  other 
a  heavenly  nature,  received  when  we  are  born  of  God,  and  are 
thus  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature.  Now  I  never  had 
any  serious  conflict  with  myself  until  I  got  the  new  nature; 
then  the  warfare  began.  I  thought  I  was  a  pretty  good  man. 
You  will  find  a  great  many  who  think  they  are  first-rate  men. 
They  do  not  have  any  conflicts.  Why?  Because  they  think 
they  are  all  right.     The}-  know  nothing  about  their  bad  nature. 

Bring  an  unrenewed  man  into  one  of  our  meetings  and  he 
will  very  likely  say,  "  What  in  the  w^orld  are  all  these  people 
here  for?  This  meeting  is  as  dry  as  dust  to  me."  But  a  man 
with  a  heavenly  nature  says,  "  This  is  food  to  my  soul.  I 
understand  it."  There's  the  two  natures.  One  man  said  it 
was  as  if  one  foot  wanted  to  go  one  way  and  the  other 
foot  the  other  way,  and  he  couldn't  get  on.  You  have  got  to 
crucify  one  nature.  Men  either  give  way  to  their  corrupt  and 
deceitful  nature,  or  else  they  put  ofif  the  old  man  and  put  on 
the  new  man.  Now,  I  have  had  people  say  to  me,  "  You  talk 
about  a  conflict.  I  don't  know  anything  about  that."  Of 
course  they  don't.  No  man  will  have  a  conflict  with  himself 
about  these  higher  things  until  he  is  "  born  from  above." 


636  CONFLICT    A    PROOF    OF    LIFE. 

You  have  heard  the  story  of  the  Judge  and  the  old  slave 
who  used  to  talk  with  him  about  his  spiritual  conflicts.  One 
day  the  Judge  said: 

"  Sambo,  how  is  it  you  Christians  are  always  talking  about 
your  fights  with  the  devil,  and  the  conflicts  you  have  with  the 
powers  of  darkness?  I  don't  have  any  conflict  with  the  devil. 
I  don't  have  any  of  these  '  fightings  '  that  you  speak  of,  and 
yet  I  am  an  infidel.  How  do  you  account  for  it?"  And  he 
floored  the  poor  negro,  who  did  not  know  just  how  to  meet 
the  argument. 

The  Judge  was  a  sportsman,  and  one  day  when  they  came 
upon  a  lot  of  wild  ducks  in  the  water  he  blazed  away  at  them, 
wounding  one  duck  and  killing  another. 

"  Sambo,"  he  said,  "  jump  in  and  get  that  wounded  duck." 

Sambo  rushed  in  and  got  the  duck,  and  found  his  illustra- 
tion. 

"  Judge,"  he  said,  "  I  think  I  understand  dat  cpiestion  we 
were  discussin'  better  than  I  did  befo'.  Don't  you  know  de 
minute  you  wounded  dat  duck  how  anxious  you  was  to  git 
him,  and  you  didn't  care  nothin'  about  de  dead  duck  until 
after  you  had  saved  de  wounded  one?  Well,  I'm  only  a 
wounded  duck,  and  Fm  all  de  time  trying  to  get  away  from 
de  devil.     But  you're  a  dead  duck  —  Jic's  got  you,  aiiyJww."' 

Let  a  man  forsake  sin  and  quit  his  old  associates,  and  every 
hound  in  hell  will  be  let  loose  upon  him.  Let  a  man  say, 
"  I've  drunk  my  last  drop  of  liquor,"  and  he  will  have  a  con- 
flict and  a  fight  then  and  there,  within  and  without.  There 
will  be  a  battle.  There  is  a  higher  and  lower  nature  in  every 
one  born  of  the  Spirit.  If  you  haven't  "  conflicts,"  you 
haven't  been  "  born  of  the  Spirit." 

Get  a  NEW  NAME.  When  a  child  is  born,  the  next  thing 
is  to  name  it.  If  we  are  true  children  of  God,  we  are  sons  of 
the  Most  High  God.  "  Thou  shalt  be  called  by  a  new  name, 
which  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  shall  name."  The  "  familv  " 
name  is  a  pretty  good  name,  after  all.  Don't  bring  disgrace 
upon  it;  don't  tarnish  it.     It  is  said  of  Alexander  that  they 


NKW    AND    I'RECIOUS    GIFTS.  637 

wanted  him  to  run  a  foot  race,  and  he  said  he  would  if  he 
were  not  the  son  of  a  King;  but  he  thought  his  name  might 
be  injured  if  he  ran  a  race  with  common  people.  Let  us  re- 
member that  we  are  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  King;  that 
our  I'^ather  is  tlie  God  of  Heaven  and  earth. 

A  woman  once  said  she  wouldn't  go  to  hear  me  preach 
again  because  I  was  a  millionaire;  she  declared  that  I  said  my 
father  was  "very  rich."  Talk  about  millions  —  I'm  away  up 
beyond  that.  Stop  at  "millions"?  My  father  owns  all  the 
banks  in  the  world,  all  the  silver  and  the  gold,  and  "  the  cattle 
on  a  thousand  hills  "  arc  His.  I  can't  tell  you  how  rich  I  am. 
You  can  all  become  "  millionaires  ''  if  I  am  one.  Get  a  "  New 
Name."  If  you  are  not  a  child  of  God,  make  up  your  mind 
that  you  will  become  such. 

Another  thing  we  get  is  a  NEW  WAY.  I  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  those  who  stay  in  old  ways,  and  around  old  haunts. 
Christ  says,  "  I  am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life;  no 
man  cometh  unto  the  Father,  but  by  me."  The  only  way  — 
the  only  one  safe  to  follow  —   is  Jesus  Christ. 

Another  thing  we  get  is  a  NEW  TONGUE.  If  a  man  is 
born  of  God  he  has  a  new  tongue,  and  he  will  not  slander 
people.  Many  a  man  has  gone  to  his  grave  with  a  broken 
heart,  because  he  has  been  slandered  and  lied  about,  perhaps 
by  those  who  professed  to  be  his  friends. 

Then  God  gives  us  a  NEW  SONG.  When  God  converts 
men,  He  puts  a  new  song  in  their  souls.  When  the  Israelites 
passed  safely  through  the  Red  Sea,  they  sung  a  Song  of  Re- 
demption. But,  thank  God,  that  song  has  been  increasing 
ever  since  they  were  in  the  W' ilderncss,  and  every  true  child  of 
God  will  begin  to  sing  it.  They  can't  help  it.  You  will  not 
want  to  sing  of  earth;  you  will  want  to  sing  of  Heaven.  Did 
you  ever  hear  of  a  skeptic  who,  when  dying,  wanted  to  have  a 
worldly  song  sung  to  him?  But  how^  often  dying  Christians 
have  asked  their  friends  to  sine  — 


538  OUR    NEW    JOYS. 

"Jesus,  lover  of  my'  soul, 

Let  me  to  Thy  bosom  fly. 
While  the  nearer  waters  roll, 

While  the  tempest  still  is  high; 
Hide  me,   O   my  Saviour,   hide, 

Till  the  storm  of  life  is  past; 
Safe  into  the  haven  guide, 

Oh,   receive  my  soul  at  last." 

In  one  of  our  hospitals  a  lady  who  was  dying  asked  me  to 
sing-  that  hymn  to  her.  I  quoted  the  words,  and  I  tried  to  sin;p» 
them,  but  I  broke  down.  At  last  the  dying  woman  tried  to 
sing  the  hymn  herself,  but  before  she  got  through  the  words 
died  away  on  her  lips,  and  she  passed  "  Safe  into  the  haven." 

I  expect  to  Iicar  the  hallelujahs  of  Heaven,  and  I  expect  to 
sing  as  well  as  any  of  them  up  there.  If  we  have  been  "  born 
of  God,"  we  can't  help  singing  the  '"  New  Song."  One  of 
the  sins  of  this  backsliding  world  is  to  hire  people  and  put 
them  into  the  organ  loft,  and  have  them  do  all  the  singing. 
When  a  man  has  been  forgiven  he  wants  to  praise  his  God. 
"  He  hath  put  a  new  song  in  my  mouth." 

If  a  man  is  born  of  God  he  will  want  NEW  FOOD  for  his 
new  nature.  He  will  want  something  better  than  Sunday 
newspapers  and  dime  novels  to  "  kill  time."  The  Bible,  and 
hundreds  of  good  books,  will  help  him  forward  and  help  him 
upward. 

And  then  we  shall  have  NEW  FRIENDS.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve a  man  is  converted  unless  he  wants  to  make  new  friends. 
I  believe  a  man  who  is  born  of  God  will  want  to  go  into  the 
church.  When  a  man  is  born  of  God  he  will  change  his 
society  very  soon;  he  will  get  away  from  the  scoffers  and  un- 
believers, and  he  will  want  to  identify  himself  with  the  children 
of  God,  and  so  he  will  have  new  friends.  I  thank  God,  every 
day  of  my  life,  for  the  friends  that  I  have  all  over  Christendom. 
They  are  friends  who  will  stand  by  me.  I  pity  the  man  who 
must  go  off  among  unbelievers  to  find  his  true  friends. 

By  and  by  we  shall  have  a  NEW  BODY.  We  shall  have 
a  body  fashioned  like  unto  His  glorious  body,  like  that  of  the 


LIFTED    HIGHER.  639 

Son  of  God.  And  \vc  shall  have  a  NEW  HOME.  He  has 
gone  up  on  high  to  prepare  it.  Thank  God  for  the  outlook. 
It  is  better  farther  on.  We  have  only  a  taste  of  what  we  are 
going  to  have. 


The  time  has  come  for  us  to  part.  I  can't  tell  you  what 
precious  hours  we  have  spent  here.  I  think  every  day  of 
my  Christian  life  grows  better  and  better.  I  have  tried  to 
serve  God  for  many  \ears,  and  every  year  seems  better  than 
any  other.  If  you  will  cling  to  Him  you  will  find  that  even 
His  yoke  is  easy,  and  that  every  year  it  grows  easier.  Cleave 
to  Him  and  He'll  lift  you  higher  and  higher.  To  those  who 
a.scend  in  balloons  objects  on  the  earth  grow  smaller  and 
smaller;  so  when  we  become  full  of  spiritual  things  we  care 
less  and  less  for  the  things  of  earth.  Go  on  to  higher  and 
higher  things,  continue  to  get  nearer  and  nearer  to  God.  I 
remember  a  few  years  ago  a  little  child  died,  and  just  before 
his  soul  went  home  he  asked  his  weeping  father  to  lift  him  up; 
and  the  father  put  his  hand  under  the  head  of  the  child  and 
raised  it  up.     But  the  little  one  said: 

"That  is  not  enough,  father;  lift  me  right  up." 

The  child  was  wasted  to  skin  and  bones,  but  his  father 
tenderly  complied,  and  lifted  the  dying  one  right  out  of  bed. 
But  the  little  fellow  kept  whispering,  fainter  and  fainter, 

"  Lift  me  higher,  father,  higher,  higher!  " 

And  the  father  lifted  him  higher  and  higher,  till  he  lifted 
him  as  high  as  he  could  reach.  Still  the  barely  audible  whis- 
per came, 

"  Higher,  father,  higher,"  till  at  last  his  head  fell  back, 
and  his  spirit  passed  up  to  the  eternal  King  —  high  at  last. 

So,  my  dear  friends,  let  your  constant  cry  be  higher, 
higher,  ever  nearer  to  the  cross  of  Christ. 

Now,  as  an  old  gentleman  attending  a  convention  in  the 


640 


GOOD    NIGHT. 


country  could  not  bring  himself  to  say  farewell  to  his  beloved 
hearers  —  the  word  seemed  to  choke  him  —  and  he  could  only 
manage  to  say  with  faltering  speech,  "  I  bid  you  good  night," 
just  so  I  cannot  say  good-bye,  farewell,  to  you  —  and  yet  we 
must  part.  I  must  leave  you,  and  in  his  words  I  merely  say 
to  you  "  Good  night."  Dawn  will  come  up  yonder,  and 
though  never  perhaps  before  that,  I  expect  to  meet  you  in  the 
resurrection  hour.  So  I  bid  you  "  Good  night,"  and  by  the 
grace  of  God  we  shall  meet  in  the  morning. 


Pr  nceton   Theoloq  cal  Sem  n3ry-Spi 


1    1012  01076  2419 


DATE  DUE 


HIGHSMITH  #45115 


